Role for Atlantic inflows and sea ice loss on shifting phytoplankton blooms in the Barents Sea

• Published in: Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans
• Main Authors: Oziel, Laurent, Neukermans, Griet, Ardyna, Mathieu, Lancelot, Christiane, Tison, Jean-Louis, Wassmann, P., Sirven, Jérôme, Ruiz-Pino, Diana, Gascard, Jean-Claude
• Other Authors: Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Takuvik Joint International Laboratory ULAVAL-CNRS, Université Laval Québec (ULaval)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire d'océanographie de Villefranche (LOV), Observatoire océanologique de Villefranche-sur-mer (OOVM), Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire d'Écologie des Systèmes Aquatiques, Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Laboratoire de Glaciologie, Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, Faculty of BioSciences, Fisheries and Economy, University of Tromsø (UiT), Variabilité de l'Océan et de la Glace de mer (VOG), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), Équipe CO2 (E-CO2), Austral, Boréal et Carbone (ABC), ARCTic marine ecosystem research network, ARCTOS (www.arctosresearch.net), the research project Arctic Seasonal Ice Zone Ecology (Arctic SIZE), European Project: 265863,EC:FP7:TPT,FP7-OCEAN-2010,ACCESS(2011)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2017
• Subjects: [PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-GEO-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Geophysics [physics.geo-ph]; Arctic; Barents Sea; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-01644551; https://hal.science/hal-01644551/document; https://hal.science/hal-01644551/file/2016JC012582.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JC012582

International audience Phytoplankton blooms in the Barents Sea are highly sensitive to seasonal and interannual changes in sea ice extent, water mass distribution, and oceanic fronts. With the ongoing increase of Atlantic Water inflows, we expect an impact on these blooms. Here, we use a state-of-the-art collection of in situ hydrogeochemical data for the period 1998–2014, which includes ocean color satellite-derived proxies for the biomass of calcifying and noncalcifying phytoplankton. Over the last 17 years, sea ice extent anomalies were evidenced having direct consequences for the spatial extent of spring blooms in the Barents Sea. In years of minimal sea ice extent, two spatially distinct blooms were clearly observed: one along the ice edge and another in ice-free water. These blooms are thought to be triggered by different stratification mechanisms: heating of the surface layers in ice-free waters and melting of the sea ice along the ice edge. In years of maximal sea ice extent, no such spatial delimitation was observed. The spring bloom generally ended in June when nutrients in the surface layer were depleted. This was followed by a stratified and oligotrophic summer period. A coccolithophore bloom generally developed in August, but was confined only to Atlantic Waters. In these same waters, a late summer bloom of noncalcifying algae was observed in September, triggered by enhanced mixing, which replenishes surface waters with nutrients. Altogether, the 17 year time-series revealed a northward and eastward shift of the spring and summer phytoplankton blooms.