Wintertime marine extreme temperature events modulate phytoplankton blooms in the North Pacific through subtropical mode water

Bibliographic Details
Title: Wintertime marine extreme temperature events modulate phytoplankton blooms in the North Pacific through subtropical mode water
Authors: Yong-Jin Tak, Hajoon Song, Jong-Yeon Park
Source: Environmental Research Letters, Vol 17, Iss 9, p 094040 (2022)
Publisher Information: IOP Publishing, 2022.
Publication Year: 2022
Collection: LCC:Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering
LCC:Environmental sciences
LCC:Science
LCC:Physics
Subject Terms: North Pacific, marine extreme temperature, subtropical mode water, nitrate, reemergence, Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering, TD1-1066, Environmental sciences, GE1-350, Science, Physics, QC1-999
More Details: Marine extreme temperature events (METs), including marine heatwaves (MHWs) and cold spells, have recently gained much attention owing to their vital influence on the marine ecosystem and social economy. Since METs can alter the upper ocean stratification and wintertime convective mixing in the northwestern North Pacific subtropical gyre (NPSG), their activities may modulate phytoplankton blooms by regulating entrainment of the subtropical mode water (STMW) with high NO $_{3}^{-}$ . Furthermore, because STMW formed in the previous winter reemerges east of its formation site in the following winter, the METs activities imprinted in STMW affect phytoplankton blooms remote from its formation site. Here, we examined the relationship between the MET activities, STMW volume, and phytoplankton blooms using satellite observations and a data-assimilative coupled physical-biogeochemical model dataset. MET activities appearing in the STMW formation region during winter regulate the formation of STMW and the supply of NO $_{3}^{-}$ from the subsurface, with the latter controlling the spring/autumn blooms in that region under NO $_{3}^{-}$ -limited conditions. Subsequently, this water mass is transported eastward in the subsurface within the northern flank of the NPSG before reemerging east of the STMW formation site the following spring. This process results in a negative lag-correlation between MET activities and surface chlorophyll in the reemergence region; for example, MHWs in winter at the STMW formation site tend to lower the surface chlorophyll concentration one year later in the reemergence region. Our study suggests that the oceanic processes allow one year of predictability of the marine ecosystems by monitoring METs in the STMW formation site.
Document Type: article
File Description: electronic resource
Language: English
ISSN: 1748-9326
Relation: https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326
DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/ac8e8a
Access URL: https://doaj.org/article/e3e3337b562d447ea648848c4d96a2f8
Accession Number: edsdoj.3e3337b562d447ea648848c4d96a2f8
Database: Directory of Open Access Journals
More Details
ISSN:17489326
DOI:10.1088/1748-9326/ac8e8a
Published in:Environmental Research Letters
Language:English