Part II Top. Trans. The most notable enhanced values in 2020 occurred during July and August, with high concentrations of chlorophyll-a occurring in the Laptev Sea of the Eurasian Arctic (Figs. Prog. Leu, E., C. J. Mundy, P. Assmy, K. Campbell, T. M. Gabrielsen, M. Gosselin, T. Juul-Pedersen, and R. Gradinger, 2015: Arctic spring awakening – Steering principles behind the phenology of vernal ice algal blooms. Oceanogr., 177, 104730, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr2.2020.104730. Arrigo, K. R., and Coauthors, 2012: Massive phytoplankton blooms under Arctic sea ice. 2. Primary productivity Phytoplankton PAR Chlorophyll a bacKground inFormation This activity focuses on primary productivity in the pelagic realm of the Arctic Ocean. The defined North Atlantic region is south of 60° N and east of 45° W, and as such is not inclusive of the Labrador or Greenland seas. The productivity of the open ocean (ocean away from coasts) is comparable to desert production. Prog. “This research shows ocean primary productivity is declining, and it may be a result of climate changes such as increased temperatures and decreased iron deposition into parts of the oceans. Estimates of ocean primary productivity for nine regions (and the average of these nine regions) across the Arctic (relative to the 2003-2019 reference period) were assessed (Fig. The representation of ocean productivity in ESM4.1 has improved relative to past GFDL ESM’s, and this contributes to realistic surface and deep ecosystem and carbon system properties. Ocean productivity largely refers to the production . 1b, c, and d). This phenomenon might be due to the capability of some organisms to either efficiently recycle iron intracellularly or by non-Redfieldian cellular iron requirements. NPP is the rate at which plant cells take in CO2 during photosynthesis, using the carbon for growth. Sci. It has long been realized that approaches using satellite ocean-color remote sensing are the only feasible means to quantify primary productivity (PP) adequately for the global ocean. of organic matter by “phytoplankton,” plants suspend-ed in the ocean, most of which are single-celled. Duffy-Anderson, J. T., and Coauthors, 2019: Responses of the northern Bering Sea and southeastern Bering Sea pelagic ecosystems following record-breaking low winter sea ice. Environmental factors like availability of Sunlight and carbon dioxide 3. In the longer term, positive trends in primary productivity occurred in all regions during the period 2003-2020 (Fig. IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering, 2017 VN Hari, B Kalyan, M Chitre, V Ganesan ... Distribution and relative abundance of humpback whales in relation to environmental variables in coastal British Columbia and adjacent waters. Plant species inhabiting a particular area 2. This pair of images contrasts average plant growth in 2002 to growth in 2008, revealing small interannual changes. -É., L. G. Anderson, P. Matrai, P. Coupel, S. Bélanger, C. Michel, and M. Reigstad, 2015: Global and regional drivers of nutrient supply, primary production and CO2 drawdown in the changing Arctic Ocean. 2015; Ardyna et al. 2015; Leu et al. 1a). Randelhoff, A., and Coauthors, 2020: Arctic mid-winter phytoplankton growth revealed by autonomous profilers. Stabeno, P., and S. W. Bell, 2019: Extreme conditions in the Bering Sea (2017-2018): record-breaking low sea-ice extent. During June, these low percentages extended northward through the Bering Strait and onto the Chukchi Shelf (Fig. Frey, K. E., J. C. Comiso, L. W. Cooper, J. M. Grebmeier and L. V. Stock, 2018: Arctic Ocean Primary Productivity: The response of marine algae to climate warming and sea ice decline. Surface ocean phosphate is commonly below the standard analytical detection limits, leading to an incomplete picture of the global variation and biogeochemical role of phosphate. Plant life in the world’s oceans has become less productive since the early 1980s, absorbing less carbon, which may in turn impact the Earth’s carbon cycle. Production rates are usually expressed as grams of organic carbon per unit area per unit time. Chlorophyll-a concentrations give an estimate of the total standing stock of algal biomass. On average, the ocean … The biomass is the mass of living biological organisms in a given area or ecosystem at a given time. Res. Oceanogr., 62, 2113-2132, https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.10554. Life Science, 336, 1408, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1215065. Life Lett., 46, 8952-8959, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL083816. 1. 1c, d), linked with very early sea ice loss and exceptionally warm conditions in the Laptev Sea in August 2020 (see essays Sea Surface Temperature and Sea Ice). Primary productivity can be estimated by combining remotely sensed chlorophyll-a concentrations with sea surface temperatures, incident solar irradiance, and mixed layer depths (see caption in Fig. Behrenfeld, M. J., and P. G. Falkowski, 1997: Photosynthetic rates derived from satellite-based chlorophyll concentration. We used generalized linear models and hierarchical partitioning to examine the relationship and relative importance of temperature, productivity (particulate organic carbon flux, net primary productivity and depth) and habitat complexity (sediment particle size diversity and grain size) on … These results are shown for ocean areas with less than 10% sea ice concentration and, therefore, do not include production by sea ice algae or under-ice phytoplankton blooms, which can be significant (e.g., Lalande et al. These patterns are often associated with the timing of the seasonal break-up and retreat of the sea ice cover (Fig. In summary, while observations of primary productivity have shown complex interannual and spatial patterns over the 2003-2020 study period, overall we observe increasing trends across all sectors of the Arctic Ocean. Lett., 46, 9833-9842, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL083396. In general, knowing how regions experience changes in chlorophyll-a concentrations alongside dramatic losses of sea ice cover provides insight into what to expect with future sea ice declines. 2019) (see essay Sea Ice), yet chlorophyll-a concentrations in the region do not appear to respond in a consistent way to these potential sea ice forcings. Ardyna, M., M. Babin, E. Devred, A. Additional widespread increases in chlorophyll-a concentrations occurred along the ice edge in the Greenland Sea during May and June (Figs. . 3 for references to details of the method for estimation). For this reporting, we show mean monthly chlorophyll-a concentrations calculated as a percentage of the 2003-2019 average, which was chosen as the reference period in order to maximize the length of the satellite-based time series. Oceanogr., 139, 171-196, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2015.08.009. Limnol. 1a, b, and d). Atmosphere Human Population Growth and Oceans. A global compilation of phosphate measured using high-sensitivity methods revealed several previously unrecognized low-phosphate areas and clear regional differences. These qualities led to an uptake of 136 Pg C since 1850, consistent with observation-based estimates (see Figure). J. Mar. Primary productivity is strongly dependent upon light availability and the presence of nutrients, and thus is highly seasonal in the Arctic. 3, Table 1). Neeley, A. R., L. A. Harris, and K. E. Frey, 2018: Unraveling phytoplankton community dynamics in the northern Chukchi Sea under sea‐ice‐covered and sea‐ice‐free conditions. Water, Ocean Plant Life Slows Down and Absorbs Less Carbon, NASA Satellites Measure Earth’s Metabolism, NASA Goddard Space Lett., 46, 5959-5967, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL083167. So most of the ocean surface is not very productive. such as vertical convection, upwelling and turbulent diffusion. Arctic Report Card 2019, J. Richter-Menge, M. L. Druckenmiller, and M. Jeffries, Eds., https://www.arctic.noaa.gov/Report-Card. Iron from trans-continental dust clouds is an important nutrient for phytoplankton, and when lacking can keep populations from growing. The satellites monitor the green pigment in plants, or chlorophyll, which leads to estimates of phytoplankton amounts. Grasslands occur in environments conducive to the growth of this plant cover but not to that of taller plants, particularly trees and shrubs. The image above shows the difference in distributions of ocean net primary productivity between 1997-2002 and 1979-1986. In particular, the Eurasian Arctic designation includes the Kara Sea, Laptev Sea, and East Siberian Sea, whereas the Amerasian Arctic designation includes the Chukchi Sea, Beaufort Sea, and Canadian Archipelago region. Res.-Oceans, 122, 6883-6900, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JC012768. 2018; Stabeno and Bell 2019) and 2019 (Frey et al. Adv., 6, eabc2678, https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abc2678. .". 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