Click on the Indicators below for More Information
upwelling icon

Description of Upwelling Indicator:

Upwelling is an important component of the California Current Ecosystem. Upwelling drives the biological productivity of the system by bringing nutrients to surface waters. The Biologically Effective Upwelling Transport Index (BEUTI; pronounced "beauty") estimates vertical transport of nitrate into the surface mixed layer; it is calculated as the product of upwelling strength and the concentration of nitrate in upwelled waters. BEUTI leverages state-of-the-art ocean models as well as satellite and in situ data to improve upon historically available upwelling indices for the U.S. west coast.

Indicator data and source information:

Values of BEUTI are provided by NMFS/SWFSC; detailed information about these indices can be found here. Values represent March-July Means for each year.

Understanding the Gauge plots

The gauge plots that accompany the indicator time series are meant to reflect the current status of that ecosystem component at the regional or national level. The numerical scores are determined as the percentile rank of the average (mean) value of that indicator over the last five years of the time series, relative to the series as a whole. The values typically represent quantitative scores, with more desirable conditions in the darker blue. Thus, some gauges are "right-handed" with the higher values being in darker blue, whereas other gauges are "left-handed" with lower values being in darker blue (indicating that lower values are preferable). In some instances (e.g. climate measures), the scores represented are unitless and are presented as two-way gauges, indicating that either high or low scores are observed, implying neither higher nor lower values are necessarily preferred.

Lefthand Gauge
Left Hand Gauge
Righthand Gauge
Right Hand Gauge
Two-Way Gauge
Two-Way Gauge

Understanding the Time series plots

Time series plots show the changes in each indicator as a function of time, over the period 1980-present. Each plot also shows horizontal lines that indicate the median (middle) value of that indicator, as well as the 10th and 90th percentiles, each calculated for the entire period of measurement. Time series plots were only developed for datasets with at least 10 years of data. Two symbols located to the right of each plot describe how recent values of an indicator compare against the overall series. A black circle indicates whether the indicator values over the last five years are on average above the series 90th percentile (plus sign), below the 10th percentile (minus sign), or between those two values (solid circle). Beneath that an arrow reflects the trend of the indicator over the last five years; an increase or decrease greater than one standard deviation is reflected in upward or downward arrows respectively, while a change of less than one standard deviation is recorded by a left-right arrow.

Graph

California Current - 31 to 34 Degrees North

Between 2018 and 2022 BEUTI showed a significant trend upward but the average of the last 5 years remains between the 10th and  90th percentiles.

3134 Upwelling

Values indicate the vertical transport of nitrate averaged from 31 to 34 degrees north (southern California Bight) from March-July of each year.

 

Description of time series:

Between 2018 and 2022 BEUTI showed a significant trend upward but the average of the last 5 years remains between the 10th and  90th percentiles.

Indicator data and source information:

Values of BEUTI are provided by NMFS/SWFSC; detailed information about these indices can be found at https://oceanview.pfeg.noaa.gov/products/upwelling/cutibeuti. Values represent March-July Means for each year.

Data source:

https://oceanview.pfeg.noaa.gov/products/upwelling/cutibeuti

California Current - 35 to 40 Degrees North

Between 2018 and 2022 BEUTI  showed a significant trend upward but the average of the last 5 years remains between the 10th and  90th percentiles.

3540 Upwelling

Values indicate the vertical transport of nitrate averaged from 31 to 34 degrees north (southern California Bight) from March to July of each year.

 

Description of time series:

Between 2018 and 2022 BEUTI  showed a significant trend upward but the average of the last 5 years remains between the 10th and  90th percentiles.

 

Indicator data and source information:

Values of BEUTI are provided by NMFS/SWFSC; detailed information about these indices can be found at https://oceanview.pfeg.noaa.gov/products/upwelling/cutibeuti Values represent March-July Means for each year.

Data source:

https://oceanview.pfeg.noaa.gov/products/upwelling/cutibeuti

California Current - 41 to 47 Degrees North

Between 2018 and 2022 BEUTI showed no significant trend and the average of the last 5 years remains between the 10th and  90th percentiles.

4147 Upwelling

Values indicate the vertical transport of nitrate averaged from 31 to 34 degrees north (southern California Bight) from March to July of each year.

 

Description of time series:

Between 2018 and 2022 BEUTI showed no significant trend and the average of the last 5 years remains between the 10th and  90th percentiles.

 

Indicator data and source information:

Values of BEUTI are provided by NMFS/SWFSC; detailed information about these indices can be found at https://oceanview.pfeg.noaa.gov/products/upwelling/cutibeuti. Values represent March-July Means for each year.

Data source:

https://oceanview.pfeg.noaa.gov/products/upwelling/cutibeuti

Additional Resources

Upwelling Indices

The Coastal Upwelling Transport Index (CUTI, pronounced “cutie”) and the Biologically Effective Upwelling Transport Index (BEUTI; pronounced “beauty”) are two new upwelling indices that leverage state-of-the-art ocean models as well as satellite and in situ data to improve upon historically available upwelling indices for the U.S. west coast.

Mike Jacox Model

NCEI Northeast Pacific Regional Climatology

These decadal climatologies were generated from regional data in the World Ocean Database (WOD) collected from 1955 to 2012. The description of datasets used can be found in WOD 2013.

NCEI Upwelling