Satellite observations of chlorophyll, phytoplankton biomass, and Ekman pumping in nonlinear mesoscale eddies

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2013. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 118 (2013): 6349–6370, doi:10.1002/2013JC009027.Nonlinear mesoscale eddies can influence biogeochemical cycles in the upper ocean through vertical and horizontal advection of nutrients and marine organisms. The relative importance of these two processes depends on the polarity of an eddy (cyclones versus anticyclones) and the initial biological conditions of the fluid trapped in the core of the eddy at the time of formation. Eddies originating in the eastern South Indian Ocean are unique in that anticyclones, typically associated with downwelling, contain elevated levels of chlorophyll-a, enhanced primary production and phytoplankton communities generally associated with nutrient-replete environments. From analysis of 9 years of concurrent satellite measurements of sea surface height, chlorophyll, phytoplankton carbon, and surface stress, we present observations that suggest eddy-induced Ekman upwelling as a mechanism that is at least partly responsible for sustaining positive phytoplankton anomalies in anticyclones of the South Indian Ocean. The biological response to this eddy-induced Ekman upwelling is evident only during the Austral winter. During the Austral summer, the biological response to eddy-induced Ekman pumping occurs deep in the euphotic zone, beyond the reach of satellite observations of ocean color.This work was funded by NASA grants NNX08AI80G, NNX08AR37G, NNX10AO98G, and NNX13AD78G.2014-06-0

Quantifying the influence of sub-mesoscale dynamics on the supply of iron to Southern Ocean phytoplankton blooms

Southern Ocean phytoplankton growth is limited by iron. Episodes of natural iron fertilisation are pivotalto triggering phytoplankton blooms in this region, the Kerguelen Plateau bloom being one prominentexample. Numerous physical mechanisms that may supply iron to the euphotic zone in the KerguelenPlateau region, and hence trigger a phytoplankton bloom, have been identified. However, the impact ofsub-mesoscaleflows in delivering iron has been omitted. With a scale of order 10 km, sub-mesoscalefilaments and fronts can dramatically increase vertical velocities and iron transport.An innovative technique is developed to investigate the role of vertical advection associated with sub-mesoscale features on the supply of iron to the photic zone. First, Lagrangian trajectories are calculatedusing three dimensional velocityfields from high resolution numerical simulations; iron concentration isthen computed along these Lagrangian trajectories. The contribution of mesoscale- (1/20°resolution)and sub-mesoscale-resolving models (1/80°resolution) is compared, thereby revealing the sensitivity ofiron supply to horizontal resolution. Ironfluxes are clearly enhanced by a factor of 2 with the resolution,thus showing that the vertical motion induced by the sub-mesoscales represents a previously neglectedprocess to drive iron into the photic waters of the Kerguelen Plateau.A. Hogg was supported by Australian Research Council Future Fellowship FT120100842. We want to express our thanks to A. Bowie for constructive discussions

Subsurface chlorophyll maxima reduce the performance of non-photochemical quenching corrections in the Southern Ocean

Non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) within phytoplankton cells often causes the daytime suppression of chlorophyll fluorescence in the Southern Ocean. This is problematic and requires accurate correction when chlorophyll fluorescence is used as a proxy for chlorophyll-a concentration or phytoplankton abundance. In this study, we reveal that Southern Ocean subsurface chlorophyll maxima (SCMs) are the largest source of uncertainty when correcting for NPQ of chlorophyll fluorescence profiles. A detailed assessment of NPQ correction methods supports this claim by taking advantage of coincident chlorophyll fluorescence and chlorophyll concentration profiles. The best performing NPQ correction methods are conditional methods that consider the mixed layer depth (MLD), subsurface fluorescence maximum (SFM) and depth of 20% surface light. Compared to existing methods, the conditional methods proposed halve the bias in corrected chlorophyll fluorescence profiles and improve the success of replicating a SFM relative to chlorophyll concentration profiles. Of existing methods, the X12 and P18 methods, perform best overall, even when considering methods supplemented by beam attenuation or backscatter data. The widely-used S08 method, is more varied in its performance between profiles and its application introduced on average up to 2% more surface bias. Despite the significant improvement of the conditional method, it still underperformed in the presence of an SCM due to 1) changes in optical properties at the SCM and 2) large gradients of chlorophyll fluorescence across the pycnocline. Additionally, we highlight that conditional methods are best applied when uncertainty in chlorophyll fluorescence yields is within 50%. This highlights the need to better characterize the bio-optics of SCMs and chlorophyll fluorescence yields in the Southern Ocean, so that chlorophyll fluorescence data can be accurately converted to chlorophyll concentration in the absence of in situ water sampling

Regional variations in the influence of mesoscale eddies on near-surface chlorophyll

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 119 (2014): 8195–8220, doi:10.1002/2014JC010111.Eddies can influence biogeochemical cycles through a variety of mechanisms, including the excitation of vertical velocities and the horizontal advection of nutrients and ecosystems, both around the eddy periphery by rotational currents and by the trapping of fluid and subsequent transport by the eddy. In this study, we present an analysis of the influence of mesoscale ocean eddies on near-surface chlorophyll (CHL) estimated from satellite measurements of ocean color. The influences of horizontal advection, trapping, and upwelling/downwelling on CHL are analyzed in an eddy-centric frame of reference by collocating satellite observations to eddy interiors, as defined by their sea surface height signatures. The influence of mesoscale eddies on CHL varies regionally. In most boundary current regions, cyclonic eddies exhibit positive CHL anomalies and anticyclonic eddies contain negative CHL anomalies. In the interior of the South Indian Ocean, however, the opposite occurs. The various mechanisms by which eddies can influence phytoplankton communities are summarized and regions where the observed CHL response to eddies is consistent with one or more of the mechanisms are discussed. This study does not attempt to link the observed regional variability definitively to any particular mechanism but provides a global overview of how eddies influence CHL anomalies.This work was funded by NASA grants NNX08AI80G, NNX08AR37G, and NNX10AO98G. DJM gratefully acknowledges NASA grant NNX13AE47G and NSF grant OCE-1048897.2015-06-0

Seasonal cycle of surface ocean pCO₂ on the Oregon shelf

Previous work has shown that the Oregon shelf is a sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) during the upwelling season; however, until now, summertime variability in CO₂ exchange and sign of the flux for the rest of the year were unknown. Observations of the partial pressure of CO₂ (pCO₂) in surface waters from August 2007 to May 2010 from ships and a buoy were used with historical data to produce a composite seasonal cycle for the central Oregon midshelf. These data indicate that the region is highly variable, at times being either a sink or strong source for atmospheric CO₂. Interannual wind variability was an important determining factor in shaping the sink/source nature of this system. Late summer and early autumn was most variable relative to the rest of the year. Winter pCO₂ was near or slightly below atmospheric levels. Strong shelf-wide undersaturated conditions were first observed in early spring and lasted until the upwelling season became developed. Peak upwelling season pCO₂ ranged from 1000 μatm. In July 2008, ship and buoy data revealed previously unobserved high-pCO₂ waters (∼1000 μatm) at the surface. These conditions persisted for nearly 2 months and drove this system to be only a weak net annual atmospheric CO₂ sink of −0.3 ± 6.8 mol m⁻² yr⁻¹. These data showed, for the first time, the seasonal cycle of surface ocean pCO₂ on the central Oregon midshelf and the impact of heretofore undocumented pCO₂ levels on an estimate of sea-air CO₂ flux for this region.This is the publisher's final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by American Geophysical Union and can be found at: http://www.agu.org/journals/jc

Iron links river runoff and shelf width to phytoplankton biomass along the U.S. West Coast

A poleward increase in phytoplankton biomass along the West Coast of North America has been attributed to increasing river runoff towards the north. We combine streamflow and shelf width data with satellite-derived estimates of phytoplankton biomass to quantify the relationship between these variables. We find that a combination of winter streamflow and shelf width can account for over 80% of the spatial variance in summer chlorophyll within 50 km of the coast. At a given location, interannual variability in streamflow is not associated with interannual variability in chlorophyll. We attribute these relationships to the role of rivers as suppliers of the micronutrient iron, and the role of the shelf as a ‘capacitor’ for riverine iron, charging during the high-flow winter season and discharging during the upwelling season. Data from the Oregon shelf confirm that, during winter, a significant fraction of riverine iron escapes the estuary and reaches the coastal ocean.Keywords: iron, runoff, productivit

Satellite-based prediction of pCO2 in coastal waters of the eastern North Pacific

Continental margin carbon cycling is complex, highly variable over a range of space and time scales, and forced by multiple physical and biogeochemical drivers. Predictions of globally significant air–sea CO2 fluxes in these regions have been extrapolated based on very sparse data sets. We present here a method for predicting coastal surface-water pCO2 from remote-sensing data, based on self organizing maps (SOMs) and a nonlinear semi-empirical model of surface water carbonate chemistry. The model used simple empirical relationships between carbonate chemistry (total dissolved carbon dioxide (TCO2) and alkalinity (TAlk)) and satellite data (sea surface temperature (SST) and chlorophyll (Chl)). Surface-water CO2 partial pressure (pCO2) was calculated from the empirically-predicted TCO2 and TAlk. This directly incorporated the inherent nonlinearities of the carbonate system, in a completely mechanistic manner. The model’s empirical coefficients were determined for a target study area of the central North American Pacific continental margin (22–50°N, within 370 km of the coastline), by optimally reproducing a set of historical observations paired with satellite data. The model-predicted pCO2 agreed with the highly variable observations with a root mean squared (RMS) deviation of 0.8 (r = 0.81; r2 = 0.66). This level of accuracy is a significant improvement relative to that of simpler models that did not resolve the biogeochemical sub-regions or that relied on linear dependences on input parameters. Air–sea fluxes based on these pCO2 predictions and satellite-based wind speed measurements suggest that the region is a ∼14 Tg C yr−1 sink for atmospheric CO2 over the 1997–2005 period, with an approximately equivalent uncertainty, compared with a ∼0.5 Tg C yr−1 source predicted by a recent bin-averaging and interpolation-based estimate for the same area.Fil: Hales, Burke. State University of Oregon; Estados UnidosFil: Strutton, Peter G.. University Of Tasmania; AustraliaFil: Saraceno, Martin. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmosfera. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmosfera; ArgentinaFil: Letelier, Ricardo. State University of Oregon; Estados UnidosFil: Takahashi, Taro. Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory; Estados UnidosFil: Feely, Richard. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory; Estados UnidosFil: Sabine, Christopher. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory; Estados UnidosFil: Chavez, Francisco. Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute; Estados Unido

Seasonality of downward carbon export in the Pacific Southern Ocean revealed by multi-year robotic observations

At high latitudes, the biological carbon pump, which exports organic matter from the surface ocean to the interior, has been attributed to the gravitational sinking of particulate organic carbon. Conspicuous deficits in ocean carbon budgets challenge this as a sole particle export pathway. Recent model estimates revealed that particle injection pumps have a comparable downward flux of particulate organic carbon to the biological gravitational pump, but with different seasonality. To date, logistical constraints have prevented concomitant and extensive observations of these mechanisms. Here, using year-round robotic observations and recent advances in bio-optical signal analysis, we concurrently investigated the functioning of two particle injection pumps, the mixed layer and eddy subduction pumps, and the gravitational pump in Southern Ocean waters. By comparing three annual cycles in contrasting physical and biogeochemical environments, we show how physical forcing, phytoplankton phenology and particle characteristics influence the magnitude and seasonality of these export pathways, with implications for carbon sequestration efficiency over the annual cycle

Satellite-based prediction of pCO₂ in coastal waters of the eastern North Pacific

Continental margin carbon cycling is complex, highly variable over a range of space and time scales, and forced by multiple physical and biogeochemical drivers. Predictions of globally significant air–sea CO₂ fluxes in these regions have been extrapolated based on very sparse data sets. We present here a method for predicting coastal surface-water pCO₂ from remote-sensing data, based on self organizing maps (SOMs) and a nonlinear semi-empirical model of surface water carbonate chemistry. The model used simple empirical relationships between carbonate chemistry (total dissolved carbon dioxide (T[subscript CO₂]) and alkalinity (T[subscript Alk])) and satellite data (sea surface temperature (SST) and chlorophyll (Chl)). Surface-water CO₂ partial pressure (pCO₂) was calculated from the empirically-predicted T[subscript CO₂] and T[subscript Alk]. This directly incorporated the inherent nonlinearities of the carbonate system, in a completely mechanistic manner. The model’s empirical coefficients were determined for a target study area of the central North American Pacific continental margin (22–50°N, within 370 km of the coastline), by optimally reproducing a set of historical observations paired with satellite data. The model-predicted pCO₂ agreed with the highly variable observations with a root mean squared (RMS) deviation of 0.8 (r = 0.81; r² = 0.66). This level of accuracy is a significant improvement relative to that of simpler models that did not resolve the biogeochemical sub-regions or that relied on linear dependences on input parameters. Air–sea fluxes based on these pCO₂ predictions and satellite-based wind speed measurements suggest that the region is a ∼14 Tg C yr⁻¹ sink for atmospheric CO₂ over the 1997–2005 period, with an approximately equivalent uncertainty, compared with a ∼0.5 Tg C yr⁻¹ source predicted by a recent bin-averaging and interpolation-based estimate for the same area

Tropical Pacific Observing System

This paper reviews the design of the Tropical Pacific Observing System (TPOS) and its governance and takes a forward look at prospective change. The initial findings of the TPOS 2020 Project embrace new strategic approaches and technologies in a user-driven design and the variable focus of the Framework for Ocean Observing. User requirements arise from climate prediction and research, climate change and the climate record, and coupled modeling and data assimilation more generally. Requirements include focus on the upper ocean and air-sea interactions, sampling of diurnal variations, finer spatial scales and emerging demands related to biogeochemistry and ecosystems. One aim is to sample a diversity of climatic regimes in addition to the equatorial zone. The status and outlook for meeting the requirements of the design are discussed. This is accomplished through integrated and complementary capabilities of networks, including satellites, moorings, profiling floats and autonomous vehicles. Emerging technologies and methods are also discussed. The outlook highlights a few new foci of the design: biogeochemistry and ecosystems, low-latitude western boundary currents and the eastern Pacific. Low latitude western boundary currents are conduits of tropical-subtropical interactions, supplying waters of mid to high latitude origin to the western equatorial Pacific and into the Indonesian Throughflow. They are an essential part of the recharge/discharge of equatorial warm water volume at interannual timescales and play crucial roles in climate variability on regional and global scales. The tropical eastern Pacific, where extreme El Niño events develop, requires tailored approaches owing to the complex of processes at work there involving coastal upwelling, and equatorial cold tongue dynamics, the oxygen minimum zone and the seasonal double Intertropical Convergence Zone. A pilot program building on existing networks is envisaged, complemented by a process study of the East Pacific ITCZ/warm pool/cold tongue/stratus coupled system. The sustainability of TPOS depends on effective and strong collaborative partnerships and governance arrangements. Revisiting regional mechanisms and engaging new partners in the context of a planned and systematic design will ensure a multi-purpose, multi-faceted integrated approach that is sustainable and responsive to changing needs