upwelling

[uhp-wel-ing]

noun

1. an act or instance of welling up.

   an upwelling of public support; an upwelling of emotion in his voice.

2. Oceanography.,  the process by which warm, less-dense surface water is drawn away from along a shore by offshore currents and replaced by cold, denser water brought up from the subsurface.

upwelling

1. The rising of cold, usually nutrient-rich waters from the ocean depths to the warmer, sunlit zone at the surface. Upwelling usually occurs in the subtropics along the western continental coasts, where prevailing trade winds drive the surface water away from shore, drawing deeper water upward to take its place. Because of the abundance of krill and other nutrients in the colder waters, these regions are rich feeding grounds for a variety of marine and avian species. Upwelling can also occur in the middle of oceans where cyclonic circulation is relatively permanent or where southern trade winds cross the Equator.

Word History and Origins

Origin of upwelling¹

First recorded in 1850–55; upwell + -ing ¹

Example Sentences

“But those increases are completely dwarfed by the major shift that happened in the ocean between the end of February and the beginning of April — the upwelling event.”

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However, based on the data available, fire pollution appears to have influenced the ocean’s chemistry far less than this year’s upwelling effect did.

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To feed, each bird spins on the surface, kicking water outward to create a whirling upwelling that brings morsels to its needle-like bill.

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The “misplacement” of the high-pressure system, he added, has contributed to increased upwelling, a process by which strong winds bring deep, cold ocean water closer to the surface.

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“The coastal upwelling has been really notable right outside the San Francisco Bay and west of Point Reyes,” Mehle said.

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