Evidence of phytoplankton blooms under Antarctic sea ice
Areas covered in compact sea ice were often assumed to prohibit upper-ocean photosynthesis. Yet, under-ice phytoplankton blooms (UIBs) have increasingly been observed in the Arctic, driven by anthropogenic changes to the optical properties of Arctic sea ice. Here, we show evidence that the Southern...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.942799 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.942799/full |
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crfrontiers:10.3389/fmars.2022.942799 2024-10-13T14:01:59+00:00 Evidence of phytoplankton blooms under Antarctic sea ice Horvat, Christopher Bisson, Kelsey Seabrook, Sarah Cristi, Antonia Matthes, Lisa C. Goddard Space Flight Center Goddard Space Flight Center Schmidt Family Foundation 2022 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.942799 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.942799/full unknown Frontiers Media SA https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Frontiers in Marine Science volume 9 ISSN 2296-7745 journal-article 2022 crfrontiers https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.942799 2024-09-17T04:13:11Z Areas covered in compact sea ice were often assumed to prohibit upper-ocean photosynthesis. Yet, under-ice phytoplankton blooms (UIBs) have increasingly been observed in the Arctic, driven by anthropogenic changes to the optical properties of Arctic sea ice. Here, we show evidence that the Southern Ocean may also support widespread UIBs. We compile 77 time series of water column samples from biogeochemical Argo floats that profiled under compact (80%–100% concentration) sea ice in austral spring–summer since 2014. We find that that nearly all (88%) such measurements recorded increasing phytoplankton biomass before the seasonal retreat of sea ice. A significant fraction (26%) met a observationally determined threshold for an under-ice bloom, with an average maximum chlorophyll-a measurement of 1.13 mg/m 3 . We perform a supporting analysis of joint light, sea ice, and ocean conditions from ICESat-2 laser altimetry and climate model contributions to CMIP6, finding that from 3 to 5 million square kilometers of the compact-ice-covered Southern Ocean has sufficient conditions to support light-limited UIBs. Comparisons between the frequency of bloom observations and modeled bloom predictions invite future work into mechanisms sustaining or limiting under-ice phytoplankton blooms in the Southern Hemisphere. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Arctic Phytoplankton Sea ice Southern Ocean Frontiers (Publisher) Antarctic Arctic Austral Southern Ocean Frontiers in Marine Science 9 |
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Areas covered in compact sea ice were often assumed to prohibit upper-ocean photosynthesis. Yet, under-ice phytoplankton blooms (UIBs) have increasingly been observed in the Arctic, driven by anthropogenic changes to the optical properties of Arctic sea ice. Here, we show evidence that the Southern Ocean may also support widespread UIBs. We compile 77 time series of water column samples from biogeochemical Argo floats that profiled under compact (80%–100% concentration) sea ice in austral spring–summer since 2014. We find that that nearly all (88%) such measurements recorded increasing phytoplankton biomass before the seasonal retreat of sea ice. A significant fraction (26%) met a observationally determined threshold for an under-ice bloom, with an average maximum chlorophyll-a measurement of 1.13 mg/m 3 . We perform a supporting analysis of joint light, sea ice, and ocean conditions from ICESat-2 laser altimetry and climate model contributions to CMIP6, finding that from 3 to 5 million square kilometers of the compact-ice-covered Southern Ocean has sufficient conditions to support light-limited UIBs. Comparisons between the frequency of bloom observations and modeled bloom predictions invite future work into mechanisms sustaining or limiting under-ice phytoplankton blooms in the Southern Hemisphere. |
author2 |
Goddard Space Flight Center Goddard Space Flight Center Schmidt Family Foundation |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Horvat, Christopher Bisson, Kelsey Seabrook, Sarah Cristi, Antonia Matthes, Lisa C. |
spellingShingle |
Horvat, Christopher Bisson, Kelsey Seabrook, Sarah Cristi, Antonia Matthes, Lisa C. Evidence of phytoplankton blooms under Antarctic sea ice |
author_facet |
Horvat, Christopher Bisson, Kelsey Seabrook, Sarah Cristi, Antonia Matthes, Lisa C. |
author_sort |
Horvat, Christopher |
title |
Evidence of phytoplankton blooms under Antarctic sea ice |
title_short |
Evidence of phytoplankton blooms under Antarctic sea ice |
title_full |
Evidence of phytoplankton blooms under Antarctic sea ice |
title_fullStr |
Evidence of phytoplankton blooms under Antarctic sea ice |
title_full_unstemmed |
Evidence of phytoplankton blooms under Antarctic sea ice |
title_sort |
evidence of phytoplankton blooms under antarctic sea ice |
publisher |
Frontiers Media SA |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.942799 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.942799/full |
geographic |
Antarctic Arctic Austral Southern Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Arctic Austral Southern Ocean |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Arctic Phytoplankton Sea ice Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Arctic Phytoplankton Sea ice Southern Ocean |
op_source |
Frontiers in Marine Science volume 9 ISSN 2296-7745 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.942799 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Marine Science |
container_volume |
9 |
_version_ |
1812814078808162304 |