The optimal stability `window': a mechanism underlying decadal fluctuations in North Pacific salmon stocks?

While recent evidence suggests that North Pacific salmon stocks are influenced by decadal variability in atmospheric forcing of the ocean, the actual combination of physical and biological processes that determines this linkage has not been identified. This paper describes a possible scenario in which water column stability is the primary factor by which the physical environment influences phytoplankton production, the basis for production at higher trophic levels. Variation in the strength of the wintertime Aleutian Low pressure area affects water column stabilities, hence primary production, along the entire eastern boundary of the North Pacific. The `optimal stability window' explains the qualitative relationship between fish stocks and the strength of the winter Aleutian Low, as well as the observed out-of-phase variation between northern and southern salmon stocks.