Shutdown of Atlantic overturning circulation could cause persistent increase of primary production in the Pacific
A potential shutdown of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) is commonly recognized to have a significant impact on the Northern hemispheric climate, notably in Northern Europe. The collapse of the northbound heat transport by the AMOC is supposed to cool down surface air temperatu...
Published in: | Environmental Research Letters |
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad178b https://doaj.org/article/d8073615870540149e40211334545cfe |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:d8073615870540149e40211334545cfe 2024-09-15T18:02:33+00:00 Shutdown of Atlantic overturning circulation could cause persistent increase of primary production in the Pacific Ralf Liebermann Matthias Hofmann Georg Feulner 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad178b https://doaj.org/article/d8073615870540149e40211334545cfe EN eng IOP Publishing https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad178b https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ad178b 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/d8073615870540149e40211334545cfe Environmental Research Letters, Vol 19, Iss 2, p 024005 (2024) climate change ocean biogeochemistry tipping elements Atlantic meridional overturning circulation Pacific North Atlantic Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 article 2024 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad178b 2024-08-05T17:49:48Z A potential shutdown of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) is commonly recognized to have a significant impact on the Northern hemispheric climate, notably in Northern Europe. The collapse of the northbound heat transport by the AMOC is supposed to cool down surface air temperatures at the Scandinavian coast by up to 6 K accompanied by a concomitant nutrient starvation of phytoplankton in Subarctic and Arctic regions. However, besides local and regional impacts, tipping the AMOC into a weaker state by anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO _2 ) and associated freshwater forcing could also have surprising remote effects. In order to investigate possible long-term impacts of an AMOC shutdown on ocean biogeochemistry, we employ an Earth system model of intermediate complexity using idealized scenarios of century-scale atmospheric 2×CO _2 and 4×CO _2 pulses combined with North Atlantic freshwater forcing. The results show a continued increase in primary production, in particular in the Eastern equatorial Pacific, due to a decrease in iron limitation following the AMOC shutdown. Tracer simulations indicate that bioavailable dissolved iron brought by Aeolian dust into the subtropical gyres of the Atlantic Ocean is transported to the Southern Ocean and from there enters the Indian Ocean and the Pacific. Thereby, the additionally introduced iron fertilizes the phosphate-rich high-nutrient, low chlorophyll waters, giving a lasting boost to phytoplankton growth, especially in the Eastern equatorial Pacific. Article in Journal/Newspaper Climate change North Atlantic Phytoplankton Southern Ocean Subarctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Environmental Research Letters 19 2 024005 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
climate change ocean biogeochemistry tipping elements Atlantic meridional overturning circulation Pacific North Atlantic Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
spellingShingle |
climate change ocean biogeochemistry tipping elements Atlantic meridional overturning circulation Pacific North Atlantic Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 Ralf Liebermann Matthias Hofmann Georg Feulner Shutdown of Atlantic overturning circulation could cause persistent increase of primary production in the Pacific |
topic_facet |
climate change ocean biogeochemistry tipping elements Atlantic meridional overturning circulation Pacific North Atlantic Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
description |
A potential shutdown of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) is commonly recognized to have a significant impact on the Northern hemispheric climate, notably in Northern Europe. The collapse of the northbound heat transport by the AMOC is supposed to cool down surface air temperatures at the Scandinavian coast by up to 6 K accompanied by a concomitant nutrient starvation of phytoplankton in Subarctic and Arctic regions. However, besides local and regional impacts, tipping the AMOC into a weaker state by anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO _2 ) and associated freshwater forcing could also have surprising remote effects. In order to investigate possible long-term impacts of an AMOC shutdown on ocean biogeochemistry, we employ an Earth system model of intermediate complexity using idealized scenarios of century-scale atmospheric 2×CO _2 and 4×CO _2 pulses combined with North Atlantic freshwater forcing. The results show a continued increase in primary production, in particular in the Eastern equatorial Pacific, due to a decrease in iron limitation following the AMOC shutdown. Tracer simulations indicate that bioavailable dissolved iron brought by Aeolian dust into the subtropical gyres of the Atlantic Ocean is transported to the Southern Ocean and from there enters the Indian Ocean and the Pacific. Thereby, the additionally introduced iron fertilizes the phosphate-rich high-nutrient, low chlorophyll waters, giving a lasting boost to phytoplankton growth, especially in the Eastern equatorial Pacific. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ralf Liebermann Matthias Hofmann Georg Feulner |
author_facet |
Ralf Liebermann Matthias Hofmann Georg Feulner |
author_sort |
Ralf Liebermann |
title |
Shutdown of Atlantic overturning circulation could cause persistent increase of primary production in the Pacific |
title_short |
Shutdown of Atlantic overturning circulation could cause persistent increase of primary production in the Pacific |
title_full |
Shutdown of Atlantic overturning circulation could cause persistent increase of primary production in the Pacific |
title_fullStr |
Shutdown of Atlantic overturning circulation could cause persistent increase of primary production in the Pacific |
title_full_unstemmed |
Shutdown of Atlantic overturning circulation could cause persistent increase of primary production in the Pacific |
title_sort |
shutdown of atlantic overturning circulation could cause persistent increase of primary production in the pacific |
publisher |
IOP Publishing |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad178b https://doaj.org/article/d8073615870540149e40211334545cfe |
genre |
Climate change North Atlantic Phytoplankton Southern Ocean Subarctic |
genre_facet |
Climate change North Atlantic Phytoplankton Southern Ocean Subarctic |
op_source |
Environmental Research Letters, Vol 19, Iss 2, p 024005 (2024) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad178b https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ad178b 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/d8073615870540149e40211334545cfe |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad178b |
container_title |
Environmental Research Letters |
container_volume |
19 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
024005 |
_version_ |
1810439989686697984 |