Plankton bloom controlled by horizontal stirring

McKiver, William J.; Neufeld, Zoltán; Scheuring, István

doi:10.5194/npg-16-623-2009

Cited by 17 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…The biological and physical timescales are important in determining the state of the ecosystem. For example, nutrients delivered to the ocean surface and horizontally stirred will only have an impact on the ecosystem if the biology has enough time to respond to the perturbation [ McKiver et al , 2009; Martin , 2003; Martin et al , 2002]. A typical timescale of the flow field is the inverse of the FSLEs.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Episodic upwelling and dust deposition as bloom triggers in low-nutrient, low-chlorophyll regions

et al. 2011

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Summertime phytoplankton blooms in the oligotrophic North Pacific Ocean are supported by N2‐fixing organisms that relieve the system of nitrate limitation. Phosphate and iron, however, limit their growth and need to be supplied for these organisms to thrive. We analyze two recent blooms in the region whose differences provide insight into their possible formation mechanisms. In 2008, a typical late summer bloom, with sporadic patches of higher‐chlorophyll concentration, occurred near the island chain and the subtropical front. In 2010, an unusually large, contiguous bloom was observed in the western oligotrophic North Pacific, a region where blooms seldom, if ever, occur. Streaks of high chlorophyll in 2008 coincide with surface temperature fronts and regions of large horizontal stretching, as detected by Lagrangian diagnostics. Such regions are prone to the generation of vertical velocities via frontogenesis. Horizontal transport from upwelling regions or iron‐rich island sediments is also important for the redistribution of nutrients. In the case of the 2010 bloom, we use a global aerosol transport model as well as space‐borne lidar observations to argue that atmospheric dust deposition events prior to the bloom provided the necessary nutrient conditions for the growth of N2‐fixing organisms. As sea surface temperature increased in the region, chlorophyll values increased significantly, showing that this bloom was likely a consequence of prior enrichment and that temperature is a key factor in bloom development in this important biome.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Episodic upwelling and dust deposition as bloom triggers in low-nutrient, low-chlorophyll regions

et al. 2011

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“…Although the fact that biogeochemical properties of phytoplankton blooms may vary in response to changes in spatial distribution of nutrient-supply sources and in rates of horizontal mixing and stirring has previously been acknowledged789, the critical effect on the planktonic ecosystem described here has largely been overlooked. The biological effect of horizontal dilution due to tracer patch dispersion is a sub-grid process in large-scale models that do not resolve fine-scale plankton patches.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…The biomass accumulated during these blooms is spatially redistributed by horizontal stirring and mixing3456. As shown in a number of model studies, in addition to structuring bloom morphology, horizontal stirring may affect different aspects of bloom ecology and biogeochemistry, including regulation of plankton ecosystem dynamics and modulation of primary production levels789.…”

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confidence: 98%

Dispersion/dilution enhances phytoplankton blooms in low-nutrient waters

et al. 2017

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Spatial characteristics of phytoplankton blooms often reflect the horizontal transport properties of the oceanic turbulent flow in which they are embedded. Classically, bloom response to horizontal stirring is regarded in terms of generation of patchiness following large-scale bloom initiation. Here, using satellite observations from the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre and a simple ecosystem model, we show that the opposite scenario of turbulence dispersing and diluting fine-scale (∼1–100 km) nutrient-enriched water patches has the critical effect of regulating the dynamics of nutrients–phytoplankton–zooplankton ecosystems and enhancing accumulation of photosynthetic biomass in low-nutrient oceanic environments. A key factor in determining ecological and biogeochemical consequences of turbulent stirring is the horizontal dilution rate, which depends on the effective eddy diffusivity and surface area of the enriched patches. Implementation of the notion of horizontal dilution rate explains quantitatively plankton response to turbulence and improves our ability to represent ecological and biogeochemical processes in oligotrophic oceans.

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“…Fundamentally, the relative magnitudes of probable biotic causes, including behavior-based aggregations (Genin et al 2005), grazing (Menden-Deuer & Fredrickson 2010), and growth (present study), need to be distinguished from physical processes, including shear and buoyancy effects (Birch et al 2009) and horizontal stirring (McKiver et al 2009). Knowing the relative magnitudes of each of these processes and the conditions under which they occur allows prediction of patch formation, persistence, and decline.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%