Despite being the largest High Nitrate Low Chlorophyll (HNLC) region, the Southern Ocean sustains phytoplankton blooms through the summer, when presumably there is sufficient light, but nutrients in the euphotic zone have been depleted. Physical processes that can potentially supply nutrients from subsurface waters to the euphotic zone, and promote phytoplankton growth in the summer, have not been fully explored at the large scale. By means of a correlation analysis, this study combines high-resolution satellite observations of ocean color, winds and sea surface temperature, surface heat fluxes from reanalysis and Argo mixed-layer depth (MLD) estimates to explore the role of the atmospheric forcing (i.e., winds and surface heat fluxes) on upper ocean processes that may help sustain high satellite chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) through the summer. Two physical processes that can supply nutrients to the euphotic zone are: MLD deepening, caused by wind-mixing and/or surface cooling, and Ekman pumping driven by the wind stress curl. We find that high winds correlate with high Chl-a over broad open ocean areas, suggesting that transient MLD deepening through wind-mixing (i.e., wind-driven entrainment) helps sustain high Chl-a. Wind-driven entrainment plays a dominant role on time scales associated with atmospheric synoptic storms (i.e., <10 days) and has a larger influence on surface Chl-a than storm scale local Ekman pumping. Based on our analysis of statistically significant correlation patterns, we identify regions in the Southern Ocean where wind-induced entrainment may play a role in sustaining summer phytoplankton blooms.

Mixed layers are defined to have homogeneous density, temperature, and salinity. However, bio-optical profiles may not always be fully homogenized within the mixed layer. The relative timescales of mixing and biological processes determine whether bio-optical gradients can form within a uniform density mixed layer. Vertical profiles of bio-optical measurements from biogeochemical Argo floats and elephant seal tags in the Southern Ocean are used to assess biological structure in the upper ocean. Within the hydrographically defined mixed layer, the profiles show significant vertical variance in chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) fluorescence and particle optical backscatter. Biological structure is assessed by fitting Chl-a fluorescence and particle backscatter profiles to functional forms (i.e., Gaussian, sigmoid, exponential, and their combinations). In the Southern Ocean, which characteristically has deep mixed layers, only 40% of nighttime bio-optical profiles were characterized by a sigmoid, indicating a well-mixed surface layer. Of the remaining 60% that showed structure, ∼40% had a deep fluorescence maximum below 20-m depth that correlated with particle backscatter. Furthermore, a significant fraction of these deep fluorescence maxima were found within the mixed layer (20–80%, depending on mixed-layer depth definition and season). Results suggest that the timescale between mixing events that homogenize the surface layer is often longer than biological timescales of restratification. We hypothesize that periods of quiescence between synoptic storms, which we estimate to be ∼3–5 days (depending on season), allow bio-optical gradients to develop within mixed layers that remain homogeneous in density.