Impact of El Niño Variability on Oceanic Phytoplankton
Oceanic phytoplankton respond rapidly to a complex spectrum of climate-driven perturbations, confounding attempts to isolate the principal causes of observed changes. A dominant mode of variability in the Earth-climate system is that generated by the El Niño phenomenon. Marked variations are observe...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2017-05-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Marine Science |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmars.2017.00133/full |
| _version_ | 1819200377130582016 |
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| author | Marie-Fanny Racault Marie-Fanny Racault Shubha Sathyendranath Shubha Sathyendranath Robert J. W. Brewin Robert J. W. Brewin Dionysios E. Raitsos Dionysios E. Raitsos Thomas Jackson Trevor Platt |
| author_facet | Marie-Fanny Racault Marie-Fanny Racault Shubha Sathyendranath Shubha Sathyendranath Robert J. W. Brewin Robert J. W. Brewin Dionysios E. Raitsos Dionysios E. Raitsos Thomas Jackson Trevor Platt |
| author_sort | Marie-Fanny Racault |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Oceanic phytoplankton respond rapidly to a complex spectrum of climate-driven perturbations, confounding attempts to isolate the principal causes of observed changes. A dominant mode of variability in the Earth-climate system is that generated by the El Niño phenomenon. Marked variations are observed in the centroid of anomalous warming in the Equatorial Pacific under El Niño, associated with quite different alterations in environmental and biological properties. Here, using observational and reanalysis datasets, we differentiate the regional physical forcing mechanisms, and compile a global atlas of associated impacts on oceanic phytoplankton caused by two extreme types of El Niño. We find robust evidence that during Eastern Pacific (EP) and Central Pacific (CP) types of El Niño, impacts on phytoplankton can be felt everywhere, but tend to be greatest in the tropics and subtropics, encompassing up to 67% of the total affected areas, with the remaining 33% being areas located in high-latitudes. Our analysis also highlights considerable and sometimes opposing regional effects. During EP El Niño, we estimate decreases of −56 TgC/y in the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean, and −82 TgC/y in the western Indian Ocean, and increase of +13 TgC/y in eastern Indian Ocean, whereas during CP El Niño, we estimate decreases −68 TgC/y in the tropical western Pacific Ocean and −10 TgC/y in the central Atlantic Ocean. We advocate that analysis of the dominant mechanisms forcing the biophysical under El Niño variability may provide a useful guide to improve our understanding of projected changes in the marine ecosystem in a warming climate and support development of adaptation and mitigation plans. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-23T03:31:16Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ec1c2b505f0445b1999f4320f89760fa |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-7745 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-23T03:31:16Z |
| publishDate | 2017-05-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Marine Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-ec1c2b505f0445b1999f4320f89760fa2022-12-21T18:01:41ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Marine Science2296-77452017-05-01410.3389/fmars.2017.00133254768Impact of El Niño Variability on Oceanic PhytoplanktonMarie-Fanny Racault0Marie-Fanny Racault1Shubha Sathyendranath2Shubha Sathyendranath3Robert J. W. Brewin4Robert J. W. Brewin5Dionysios E. Raitsos6Dionysios E. Raitsos7Thomas Jackson8Trevor Platt9Plymouth Marine LaboratoryPlymouth, UKPlymouth Marine Laboratory, National Centre for Earth ObservationPlymouth, UKPlymouth Marine LaboratoryPlymouth, UKPlymouth Marine Laboratory, National Centre for Earth ObservationPlymouth, UKPlymouth Marine LaboratoryPlymouth, UKPlymouth Marine Laboratory, National Centre for Earth ObservationPlymouth, UKPlymouth Marine LaboratoryPlymouth, UKPlymouth Marine Laboratory, National Centre for Earth ObservationPlymouth, UKPlymouth Marine LaboratoryPlymouth, UKPlymouth Marine LaboratoryPlymouth, UKOceanic phytoplankton respond rapidly to a complex spectrum of climate-driven perturbations, confounding attempts to isolate the principal causes of observed changes. A dominant mode of variability in the Earth-climate system is that generated by the El Niño phenomenon. Marked variations are observed in the centroid of anomalous warming in the Equatorial Pacific under El Niño, associated with quite different alterations in environmental and biological properties. Here, using observational and reanalysis datasets, we differentiate the regional physical forcing mechanisms, and compile a global atlas of associated impacts on oceanic phytoplankton caused by two extreme types of El Niño. We find robust evidence that during Eastern Pacific (EP) and Central Pacific (CP) types of El Niño, impacts on phytoplankton can be felt everywhere, but tend to be greatest in the tropics and subtropics, encompassing up to 67% of the total affected areas, with the remaining 33% being areas located in high-latitudes. Our analysis also highlights considerable and sometimes opposing regional effects. During EP El Niño, we estimate decreases of −56 TgC/y in the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean, and −82 TgC/y in the western Indian Ocean, and increase of +13 TgC/y in eastern Indian Ocean, whereas during CP El Niño, we estimate decreases −68 TgC/y in the tropical western Pacific Ocean and −10 TgC/y in the central Atlantic Ocean. We advocate that analysis of the dominant mechanisms forcing the biophysical under El Niño variability may provide a useful guide to improve our understanding of projected changes in the marine ecosystem in a warming climate and support development of adaptation and mitigation plans.http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmars.2017.00133/fullEl Niño variabilityENSOclimateocean-colorESA climate change initiativephytoplankton |
| spellingShingle | Marie-Fanny Racault Marie-Fanny Racault Shubha Sathyendranath Shubha Sathyendranath Robert J. W. Brewin Robert J. W. Brewin Dionysios E. Raitsos Dionysios E. Raitsos Thomas Jackson Trevor Platt Impact of El Niño Variability on Oceanic Phytoplankton Frontiers in Marine Science El Niño variability ENSO climate ocean-color ESA climate change initiative phytoplankton |
| title | Impact of El Niño Variability on Oceanic Phytoplankton |
| title_full | Impact of El Niño Variability on Oceanic Phytoplankton |
| title_fullStr | Impact of El Niño Variability on Oceanic Phytoplankton |
| title_full_unstemmed | Impact of El Niño Variability on Oceanic Phytoplankton |
| title_short | Impact of El Niño Variability on Oceanic Phytoplankton |
| title_sort | impact of el nino variability on oceanic phytoplankton |
| topic | El Niño variability ENSO climate ocean-color ESA climate change initiative phytoplankton |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmars.2017.00133/full |
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