Increased intrusion of warming Atlantic water leads to rapid expansion of temperate phytoplankton in the Arctic

• Published in: Global Change Biology
• Main Authors: Neukermans, Griet, Oziel, Laurent, Babin, Marcel
• Other Authors: Horizon 2020 Framework Programme, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2018
• Subjects: Arctic Ocean; Barents Sea; Phytoplankton
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14075; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fgcb.14075; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/gcb.14075

Abstract The Arctic Ocean and its surrounding shelf seas are warming much faster than the global average, which potentially opens up new distribution areas for temperate‐origin marine phytoplankton. Using over three decades of continuous satellite observations, we show that increased inflow and temperature of Atlantic waters in the Barents Sea resulted in a striking poleward shift in the distribution of blooms of Emiliania huxleyi , a marine calcifying phytoplankton species. This species' blooms are typically associated with temperate waters and have expanded north to 76°N, five degrees further north of its first bloom occurrence in 1989. E. huxleyi 's blooms keep pace with the changing climate of the Barents Sea, namely ocean warming and shifts in the position of the Polar Front, resulting in an exceptionally rapid range shift compared to what is generally detected in the marine realm. We propose that as the Eurasian Basin of the Arctic Ocean further atlantifies and ocean temperatures continue to rise, E. huxleyi and other temperate‐origin phytoplankton could well become resident bloom formers in the Arctic Ocean.