NW European shelf under climate warming: implications for open ocean – shelf exchange, primary production, and carbon absorption
Shelves have been estimated to account for more than one-fifth of the global marine primary production. It has been also conjectured that shelves strongly influence the oceanic absorption of anthropogenic CO 2 (carbon shelf pump). Owing to their coarse resolution, currently applied global climate mo...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:424e67c893d54e6ca26dacbff39473b6 2023-05-15T17:41:45+02:00 NW European shelf under climate warming: implications for open ocean – shelf exchange, primary production, and carbon absorption M. Gröger E. Maier-Reimer U. Mikolajewicz A. Moll D. Sein 2013-06-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-3767-2013 https://doaj.org/article/424e67c893d54e6ca26dacbff39473b6 EN eng Copernicus Publications http://www.biogeosciences.net/10/3767/2013/bg-10-3767-2013.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1726-4170 https://doaj.org/toc/1726-4189 doi:10.5194/bg-10-3767-2013 1726-4170 1726-4189 https://doaj.org/article/424e67c893d54e6ca26dacbff39473b6 Biogeosciences, Vol 10, Iss 6, Pp 3767-3792 (2013) Ecology QH540-549.5 Life QH501-531 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2013 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-3767-2013 2022-12-31T13:20:15Z Shelves have been estimated to account for more than one-fifth of the global marine primary production. It has been also conjectured that shelves strongly influence the oceanic absorption of anthropogenic CO 2 (carbon shelf pump). Owing to their coarse resolution, currently applied global climate models are inappropriate to investigate the impact of climate change on shelves and regional models do not account for the complex interaction with the adjacent open ocean. In this study, a global ocean general circulation model and biogeochemistry model were set up with a distorted grid providing a maximal resolution for the NW European shelf and the adjacent northeast Atlantic. Using model climate projections we found that already a~moderate warming of about 2.0 K of the sea surface is linked with a reduction by ~ 30% of the biological production on the NW European shelf. If we consider the decline of anthropogenic riverine eutrophication since the 1990s, the reduction of biological production amounts is even larger. The relative decline of NW European shelf productivity is twice as strong as the decline in the open ocean (~ 15%). The underlying mechanism is a spatially well confined stratification feedback along the continental shelf break. This feedback reduces the nutrient supply from the deep Atlantic to about 50%. In turn, the reduced productivity draws down CO 2 absorption in the North Sea by ~ 34% at the end of the 21st century compared to the end of the 20th century implying a strong weakening of shelf carbon pumping. Sensitivity experiments with diagnostic tracers indicate that not more than 20% of the carbon absorbed in the North Sea contributes to the long-term carbon uptake of the world ocean. The rest remains within the ocean's mixed layer where it is exposed to the atmosphere. The predicted decline in biological productivity, and decrease of phytoplankton concentration (in the North Sea by averaged 25%) due to reduced nutrient imports from the deeper Atlantic will probably affect the local fish stock ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Northeast Atlantic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Biogeosciences 10 6 3767 3792 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Ecology QH540-549.5 Life QH501-531 Geology QE1-996.5 |
spellingShingle |
Ecology QH540-549.5 Life QH501-531 Geology QE1-996.5 M. Gröger E. Maier-Reimer U. Mikolajewicz A. Moll D. Sein NW European shelf under climate warming: implications for open ocean – shelf exchange, primary production, and carbon absorption |
topic_facet |
Ecology QH540-549.5 Life QH501-531 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
Shelves have been estimated to account for more than one-fifth of the global marine primary production. It has been also conjectured that shelves strongly influence the oceanic absorption of anthropogenic CO 2 (carbon shelf pump). Owing to their coarse resolution, currently applied global climate models are inappropriate to investigate the impact of climate change on shelves and regional models do not account for the complex interaction with the adjacent open ocean. In this study, a global ocean general circulation model and biogeochemistry model were set up with a distorted grid providing a maximal resolution for the NW European shelf and the adjacent northeast Atlantic. Using model climate projections we found that already a~moderate warming of about 2.0 K of the sea surface is linked with a reduction by ~ 30% of the biological production on the NW European shelf. If we consider the decline of anthropogenic riverine eutrophication since the 1990s, the reduction of biological production amounts is even larger. The relative decline of NW European shelf productivity is twice as strong as the decline in the open ocean (~ 15%). The underlying mechanism is a spatially well confined stratification feedback along the continental shelf break. This feedback reduces the nutrient supply from the deep Atlantic to about 50%. In turn, the reduced productivity draws down CO 2 absorption in the North Sea by ~ 34% at the end of the 21st century compared to the end of the 20th century implying a strong weakening of shelf carbon pumping. Sensitivity experiments with diagnostic tracers indicate that not more than 20% of the carbon absorbed in the North Sea contributes to the long-term carbon uptake of the world ocean. The rest remains within the ocean's mixed layer where it is exposed to the atmosphere. The predicted decline in biological productivity, and decrease of phytoplankton concentration (in the North Sea by averaged 25%) due to reduced nutrient imports from the deeper Atlantic will probably affect the local fish stock ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
M. Gröger E. Maier-Reimer U. Mikolajewicz A. Moll D. Sein |
author_facet |
M. Gröger E. Maier-Reimer U. Mikolajewicz A. Moll D. Sein |
author_sort |
M. Gröger |
title |
NW European shelf under climate warming: implications for open ocean – shelf exchange, primary production, and carbon absorption |
title_short |
NW European shelf under climate warming: implications for open ocean – shelf exchange, primary production, and carbon absorption |
title_full |
NW European shelf under climate warming: implications for open ocean – shelf exchange, primary production, and carbon absorption |
title_fullStr |
NW European shelf under climate warming: implications for open ocean – shelf exchange, primary production, and carbon absorption |
title_full_unstemmed |
NW European shelf under climate warming: implications for open ocean – shelf exchange, primary production, and carbon absorption |
title_sort |
nw european shelf under climate warming: implications for open ocean – shelf exchange, primary production, and carbon absorption |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-3767-2013 https://doaj.org/article/424e67c893d54e6ca26dacbff39473b6 |
genre |
Northeast Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Northeast Atlantic |
op_source |
Biogeosciences, Vol 10, Iss 6, Pp 3767-3792 (2013) |
op_relation |
http://www.biogeosciences.net/10/3767/2013/bg-10-3767-2013.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1726-4170 https://doaj.org/toc/1726-4189 doi:10.5194/bg-10-3767-2013 1726-4170 1726-4189 https://doaj.org/article/424e67c893d54e6ca26dacbff39473b6 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-3767-2013 |
container_title |
Biogeosciences |
container_volume |
10 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
3767 |
op_container_end_page |
3792 |
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1766143469989920768 |