Shutdown of turbulent convection as a new criterion for the onset of spring phytoplankton blooms
The onset of phytoplankton blooms in late winter, early spring has been traditionally associated with the shoaling of the mixed layer above a critical depth. Here we show that the onset of a bloom can also be triggered by a reduction in air–sea fluxes at the end of winter. When net cooling subsides...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, Inc.
2012
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/74022 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3736-1956 |
| _version_ | 1811069992772304896 |
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| author | Taylor, John R. Ferrari, Raffaele |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Taylor, John R. Ferrari, Raffaele |
| author_sort | Taylor, John R. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | The onset of phytoplankton blooms in late winter, early spring has been traditionally associated with the shoaling of the mixed layer above a critical depth. Here we show that the onset of a bloom can also be triggered by a reduction in air–sea fluxes at the end of winter. When net cooling subsides at the end of winter, turbulent mixing becomes weak, thereby increasing the residence time of phytoplankton cells in the euphotic layer and allowing a bloom to develop. The necessary change in the air–sea flux generally precedes mixed-layer shoaling, and may provide a better indicator for the onset of the spring bloom than the mixed-layer depth alone. Our hypothesis is supported by numerical simulations and remote sensing data. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:20:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/74022 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:20:11Z |
| publishDate | 2012 |
| publisher | American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, Inc. |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/740222022-09-30T09:03:33Z Shutdown of turbulent convection as a new criterion for the onset of spring phytoplankton blooms Taylor, John R. Ferrari, Raffaele Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Ferrari, Raffaele The onset of phytoplankton blooms in late winter, early spring has been traditionally associated with the shoaling of the mixed layer above a critical depth. Here we show that the onset of a bloom can also be triggered by a reduction in air–sea fluxes at the end of winter. When net cooling subsides at the end of winter, turbulent mixing becomes weak, thereby increasing the residence time of phytoplankton cells in the euphotic layer and allowing a bloom to develop. The necessary change in the air–sea flux generally precedes mixed-layer shoaling, and may provide a better indicator for the onset of the spring bloom than the mixed-layer depth alone. Our hypothesis is supported by numerical simulations and remote sensing data. United States. Office of Naval Research (Award N00014-08-1-1060) 2012-10-16T15:16:32Z 2012-10-16T15:16:32Z 2011 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0024-3590 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/74022 Taylor, John R., and Raffaele Ferrari. “Shutdown of Turbulent Convection as a New Criterion for the Onset of Spring Phytoplankton Blooms.” Limnology and Oceanography 56.6 (2011): 2293–2307. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3736-1956 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.4319/lo.2011.56.6.2293 Limnology and Oceanography Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ application/pdf American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, Inc. MIT web domain |
| spellingShingle | Taylor, John R. Ferrari, Raffaele Shutdown of turbulent convection as a new criterion for the onset of spring phytoplankton blooms |
| title | Shutdown of turbulent convection as a new criterion for the onset of spring phytoplankton blooms |
| title_full | Shutdown of turbulent convection as a new criterion for the onset of spring phytoplankton blooms |
| title_fullStr | Shutdown of turbulent convection as a new criterion for the onset of spring phytoplankton blooms |
| title_full_unstemmed | Shutdown of turbulent convection as a new criterion for the onset of spring phytoplankton blooms |
| title_short | Shutdown of turbulent convection as a new criterion for the onset of spring phytoplankton blooms |
| title_sort | shutdown of turbulent convection as a new criterion for the onset of spring phytoplankton blooms |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/74022 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3736-1956 |
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