Eddy-induced reduction of biological production in eastern boundary upwelling systems

Gruber, Nicolas; Lachkar, Zouhair; Frenzel, Hartmut; Marchesiello, Patrick; Münnich, Matthias; McWilliams, James C.; Nagai, Takeyoshi; Plattner, Gian‐Kasper

doi:10.1038/ngeo1273

Cited by 357 publications

(445 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…For the understanding of remineralization processes and feedbacks in upwelling systems, a quantification of the material that is lost to the open ocean is critical as it may directly impact the system's productivity. Gruber et al (2011) found that mesoscale eddy activity in upwelling regimes results in a net reduction of biological productivity. Additionally, submesoscale upwelling filaments can enhance the off-shelf flux of labile DOM (Alvarez-Salgado et al, 2001).…”

Section: Physical Fluxes Of Dommentioning

confidence: 99%

Water column biogeochemistry of oxygen minimum zones in the eastern tropical North Atlantic and eastern tropical South Pacific oceans

et al. 2016

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Abstract. Recent modeling results suggest that oceanic oxygen levels will decrease significantly over the next decades to centuries in response to climate change and altered ocean circulation. Hence, the future ocean may experience major shifts in nutrient cycling triggered by the expansion and intensification of tropical oxygen minimum zones (OMZs), which are connected to the most productive upwelling systems in the ocean. There are numerous feedbacks among oxygen concentrations, nutrient cycling and biological productivity; however, existing knowledge is insufficient to understand physical, chemical and biological interactions in order to adequately assess past and potential future changes.In the following, we summarize one decade of research performed in the framework of the Collaborative Research Center 754 (SFB754) focusing on climate-biogeochemistry interactions in tropical OMZs. We investigated the influence of low environmental oxygen conditions on biogeochemical cycles, organic matter formation and remineralization, greenhouse gas production and the ecology in OMZ regions of the eastern tropical South Pacific compared to the weaker OMZ of the eastern tropical North Atlantic. Based on our findings, a coupling of primary production and organic matter export via the nitrogen cycle is proposed, which may, however, be impacted by several additional factors, e.g., micronutrients, particles acting as microniches, vertical and horizontal transport of organic material and the role of zooplankton and viruses therein.

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Section: Physical Fluxes Of Dommentioning

confidence: 99%

Water column biogeochemistry of oxygen minimum zones in the eastern tropical North Atlantic and eastern tropical South Pacific oceans

et al. 2016

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“…The impact that eddies have on the pelagic ecosystem has been mostly studied at the global scale and in open ocean environments [4,8] and, far less, in EBCS regions. Studies in EBCS have reported an exchange of chemical and biological properties between coastal and oceanic waters associated with the propagation of mesoscale eddies, e.g., [28][29][30][31]. Most of these studies are based on total Chl-a, and only a few have analyzed phytoplankton community structure within mesoscale eddies or other submesoscale features, e.g., [32][33][34][35].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phytoplankton Size Structure in Association with Mesoscale Eddies off Central-Southern Chile: The Satellite Application of a Phytoplankton Size-Class Model

et al. 2018

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Understanding the influence of mesoscale and submesoscale features on the structure of phytoplankton is a key aspect in the assessment of their influence on marine biogeochemical cycling and cross-shore exchanges of plankton in Eastern Boundary Current Systems (EBCS). In this study, the spatio-temporal evolution of phytoplankton size classes (PSC) in surface waters associated with mesoscale eddies in the EBCS off central-southern Chile was analyzed. Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) size-fractionated filtration (SFF) data from in situ samplings in coastal and coastal transition waters were used to tune a three-component (micro-, nano-, and pico-phytoplankton) model, which was then applied to total Chl-a satellite data (ESA OC-CCI product) in order to retrieve the Chl-a concentration of each PSC. A sea surface, height-based eddy-tracking algorithm was used to identify and track one cyclonic (sC) and three anticyclonic (ssAC1, ssAC2, sAC) mesoscale eddies between January 2014 and October 2015. Satellite estimates of PSC and in situ SFF Chl-a data were highly correlated (0.64 < r < 0.87), although uncertainty values for the microplankton fraction were moderate to high (50 to 100% depending on the metric used). The largest changes in size structure took place during the early life of eddies (~2 months), and no major differences in PSC between eddy center and periphery were found. The contribution of the microplankton fraction was~50% (~30%) in sC and ssAC1 (ssAC2 and sAC) eddies when they were located close to the coast, while nanoplankton was dominant (~60-70%) and picoplankton almost constant (<20%) throughout the lifetime of eddies. These results suggest that the three-component model, which has been mostly applied in oceanic waters, is also applicable to highly productive coastal upwelling systems. Additionally, the PSC changes within mesoscale eddies obtained by this satellite approach are in agreement with results on phytoplankton size distribution

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“…These nonlinear mesoscale eddies trap water into their cores and participate to the general mixing and redistribution of physical and bio-geochemical properties from the coastal regions to the open ocean [Logerwell and Smith, 2001;Barton and Ar ıstegui, 2004;Rubio et al, 2009;Morales et al, 2012;Dong et al, 2014]. Along their paths, they can also modulate the biogeochemistry and ocean productivity [Correa-Ramirez et al, 2007;Marchesiello and Estrade, 2007;Gruber et al, 2011;Stramma et al, 2013;Mahadevan, 2014] but also impact the overlaying atmosphere interactions affecting heat fluxes at the sea-air interface, winds, cloud cover and precipitations [Morrow and Le Traon, 2012;Frenger et al, 2013;Mahadevan, 2014;Villas Bôas et al, 2015].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Main eddy vertical structures observed in the four major Eastern Boundary Upwelling Systems

2015

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In the four major Eastern Boundary Upwelling Systems (EBUS), mesoscale eddies are known to modulate the biological productivity and transport near‐coastal seawater properties toward the offshore ocean, however little is known about their main characteristics and vertical structure. This study combines 10 years of satellite‐altimetry data and Argo float profiles of temperature and salinity, and our main goals are (i) to describe the main surface characteristics of long‐lived eddies formed in each EBUS and their evolution, and (ii) to depict the main vertical structure of the eddy‐types that coexist in these regions. A clustering analysis of the Argo profiles surfacing within the long‐lived eddies of each EBUS allows us to determine the proportion of surface and subsurface‐intensified eddies in each region, and to describe their vertical structure in terms of temperature, salinity and dynamic height anomalies. In the Peru‐Chile Upwelling System, 55% of the sampled anticyclonic eddies (AEs) have subsurface‐intensified maximum temperature and salinity anomalies below the seasonal pycnocline, whereas 88% of the cyclonic eddies (CEs) are surface‐intensified. In the California Upwelling System, only 30% of the AEs are subsurface‐intensified and all of the CEs show maximum anomalies above the pycnocline. In the Canary Upwelling System, ∼40% of the AEs and ∼60% of the CEs are subsurface‐intensified with maximum anomalies extending down to 800 m depth. Finally, the Benguela Upwelling System tends to generate ∼40–50% of weak surface‐intensified eddies and ∼50–60% of much stronger subsurface‐intensified eddies with a clear geographical distribution. The mechanisms involved in the observed eddy vertical shapes are discussed.

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Eddy-induced reduction of biological production in eastern boundary upwelling systems

Cited by 357 publications

References 42 publications

Water column biogeochemistry of oxygen minimum zones in the eastern tropical North Atlantic and eastern tropical South Pacific oceans

Water column biogeochemistry of oxygen minimum zones in the eastern tropical North Atlantic and eastern tropical South Pacific oceans

Phytoplankton Size Structure in Association with Mesoscale Eddies off Central-Southern Chile: The Satellite Application of a Phytoplankton Size-Class Model

Main eddy vertical structures observed in the four major Eastern Boundary Upwelling Systems

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