Enhanced oceanic CO2 uptake along the rapidly changing West Antarctic Peninsula

Brown, Michael S.; Munro, David R.; Feehan, Colette J.; Sweeney, Colm; Ducklow, Hugh W.; Schofield, Oscar

doi:10.1038/s41558-019-0552-3

Cited by 75 publications

(140 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…We have identified the Gerlache Strait as a weak CO 2 source from 2002 to 2017, with an annual budget of sea-air CO 2 exchanges at near-equilibrium conditions. This contrasts with the expectations for other Antarctic coastal regions, which demonstrate annual CO 2 sink behaviour 5,13,25 , such as in summer and spring 11,14,33 . The studied region acts as a moderate CO 2 source in autumn and a strong CO 2 source in winter.…”

contrasting

confidence: 95%

“…This variability is associated with both intense biological activity and the intrusion of local upwelled CO 2 -rich waters (e.g., mCDW). In addition, it is linked to the influence of modes of climate variability, such as ENSO, which decreases the wind intensity, leading to favourable conditions for phytoplankton blooms 14 . This explains why the most intense CO 2 Figure S4) total alkalinity and total dissolved inorganic carbon (nA T and nC T , respectively) dispersal diagram for the (a) summer, (b) autumn, (c) winter, and (d) spring.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, strong CO 2 sink periods should also extend beyond late summer. As CO 2 uptake has intensified in the summer 14,15 and proved to nearly counteract annual CO 2 evasion, this region could become an annual CO 2 sink in future years, particularly assuming that the Southern Ocean is becoming greener 75 . Actually, this second scenario seems likely to occur, as the magnitude and frequency of FCO 2 in months when the region is a strong CO 2 sink are increasing and in months when the region is a strong CO 2 source have been less frequent (Fig.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Seasonal variability of net sea-air CO2 fluxes in a coastal region of the northern Antarctic Peninsula

Monteiro

Kerr

Machado

2020

Sci Rep

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We show an annual overview of the sea-air CO2 exchanges and primary drivers in the Gerlache Strait, a hotspot for climate change that is ecologically important in the northern Antarctic Peninsula. In autumn and winter, episodic upwelling events increase the remineralized carbon in the sea surface, leading the region to act as a moderate or strong CO2 source to the atmosphere of up to 40 mmol m–2 day–1. During summer and late spring, photosynthesis decreases the CO2 partial pressure in the surface seawater, enhancing ocean CO2 uptake, which reaches values higher than − 40 mmol m–2 day–1. Thus, autumn/winter CO2 outgassing is nearly balanced by an only 4-month period of intense ocean CO2 ingassing during summer/spring. Hence, the estimated annual net sea-air CO2 flux from 2002 to 2017 was 1.24 ± 4.33 mmol m–2 day–1, opposing the common CO2 sink behaviour observed in other coastal regions around Antarctica. The main drivers of changes in the surface CO2 system in this region were total dissolved inorganic carbon and total alkalinity, revealing dominant influences of both physical and biological processes. These findings demonstrate the importance of Antarctica coastal zones as summer carbon sinks and emphasize the need to better understand local/regional seasonal sensitivity to the net CO2 flux effect on the Southern Ocean carbon cycle, especially considering the impacts caused by climate change.

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contrasting

confidence: 95%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Seasonal variability of net sea-air CO2 fluxes in a coastal region of the northern Antarctic Peninsula

Monteiro

Kerr

Machado

2020

Sci Rep

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“…The role of diatoms on the biogeochemistry and marine ecosystem of the NAP Because phytoplankton supports oceanic food webs and play a key role on the marine ecosystem's resilience, its abundance and composition may have a direct effect on the whole regional ecosystem with respect to the energy transfer through food webs and the biological pump (Dubischar and Bathmann 1997;Smetacek et al 2004;Salter et al 2012;Assmy et al 2013;Siegel et al 2014;Rigual-Hernández et al 2015). Recent studies have shown a positive association between upper ocean water column stability, phytoplankton dynamics, and FCO 2 from the atmosphere toward the ocean in summer (Jones et al 2017;Kerr et al 2018a;Brown et al 2019). Nearly half of the oceanic CO 2 uptake occurs in the Southern Ocean (Takahashi et al 2012).…”

Section: Influence Of Umld and Stability On Diatom Chl A Biomass Distmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Diatoms, a dominant phytoplankton group in the Southern Ocean (e.g., Arrigo et al 1999;Pondaven et al 2000;Armbrust 2009), are considered the core of the austral food web as they are responsible for more than 85% of its annual primary production (Rousseaux and Gregg 2014). Consequently, the diatoms play crucial role in the trophic structure and biogeochemical cycles of the region (Falkowski et al 1998;Tréguer et al 2017;Person et al 2018;Brown et al 2019). Although this group seems well adapted to regimes of intermittent light and nutrient exposure, it is particularly common in nutrient-rich environments encompassing polar regions, as well as upwelling and coastal areas (Smetacek et al 2012).…”

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confidence: 99%

Dynamics of an intense diatom bloom in the Northern Antarctic Peninsula, February 2016

Costa

Mendes

Tavano

et al. 2020

Limnology & Oceanography

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Diatoms are considered the main base of the Southern Ocean food web as they are responsible for more than 85% of its annual primary production and play a crucial role in the Antarctic trophic structure and in the biogeochemical cycles. Within this context, an intense diatom bloom reaching > 45 mg m−3 of chlorophyll a was registered in the Northern Antarctic Peninsula (NAP) during a late summer study in February 2016. Given that nutrient concentrations and grazing activities were not identified here as limiting factors on the bloom development, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of water column structure (stability and upper mixed layer depth) on the phytoplankton biomass and composition in the NAP. The diatom bloom, mainly composed by the large centric Odontella weissflogii (mostly > 70 μm in length), was associated with a local ocean carbon dioxide uptake that reached values greater than −60 mmol m−2 d−1. We hypothesize that the presence of a vertically large water column stability barrier, just below the pycnocline, was the main driver allowing for the development of the intense diatom bloom, particularly in the Gerlache Strait. Contrarily, a shift from diatoms to dinoflagellates (mainly Gymnodiniales < 20 μm) was observed associated with conditions of a highly stable thin layer. The results suggest that a large fraction of this intense diatom bloom is in fast sinking process, associated with low grazing pressure, showing a crucial role of diatoms for the efficiency of the biological carbon pump in this region.

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Long‐term patterns in ecosystem phenology near Palmer Station, Antarctica, from the perspective of the Adélie penguin

Cimino

Conroy²,

Connors

et al. 2023

Ecosphere

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Climate change is leading to phenological shifts across a wide range of species globally. Polar oceans are hotspots of rapid climate change where sea ice dynamics structure ecosystems and organismal life cycles are attuned to ice seasonality. To anticipate climate change impacts on populations and ecosystem services, it is critical to understand ecosystem phenology to determine species activity patterns, optimal environmental windows for processes like reproduction, and the ramifications of ecological mismatches. Since 1991, the

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Enhanced oceanic CO2 uptake along the rapidly changing West Antarctic Peninsula

Cited by 75 publications

References 51 publications

Seasonal variability of net sea-air CO2 fluxes in a coastal region of the northern Antarctic Peninsula

Seasonal variability of net sea-air CO2 fluxes in a coastal region of the northern Antarctic Peninsula

Dynamics of an intense diatom bloom in the Northern Antarctic Peninsula, February 2016

Long‐term patterns in ecosystem phenology near Palmer Station, Antarctica, from the perspective of the Adélie penguin

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