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Great article! Upwelling is significant in western boundary currents, so places like California and Peru, leading to huge amounts of biomass in these regions.

Another note on climate change - corals and kelps get killed off by high water temperatures as they are essentially running a fever. Areas of high upwelling, either through wind-driven coastal upwelling or high energy internal wave regions, can act as a buffer to this by periodically cooling the organisms down. How this evolves with changes to the ocean over time is vital for understanding where organisms will be able to survive in the coming decades.

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Thank you and yes I read about the success of fisheries in Peru thanks to upwelling! That's incredible, so essentially cooling them down as they bypass coral and kelp on the way up? Thanks for sharing that, Kevin 😊

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Yep, that's exactly it. I've heard a few people refer to regions that get upwelling or internal wave cooling as "thermal refuges."

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Thank you, there is a lot of information packed in here and the article about the Coriolis effect was also very informative. I appreciate the Deep Dive!

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Thanks, Leslie 😁

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Chiming in from the actively upwelling Oregon coast (seawater is a salty, cool 10.7°C today) to say that a gust of wind will not do it! Upwelling requires a sustained wind, and wind direction matters (out of the NW is best!) Great to see this article, as it truly is a crucial ocean function.

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It does all start with a gust of wind, followed by many more! Just an expression. Glad you liked the post :)

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Absolutely, it does start there. :)

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