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: Laboratoire d'océanographie de Villefranche (LOV), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de la Mer de Villefranche (IMEV), Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-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)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2018
• Subjects: atlantification; biogeography; climate change; coccolithophore; Emiliania huxleyi; phytoplankton; range expansion; remote sensing; [SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography; [SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes; [SDV.EE.BIO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Ecology; environment/Bioclimatology; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Barents Sea; Climate change; Phytoplankton
• Online Access: https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-01948151; https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-01948151/document; https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-01948151/file/Neukermans_etal_2018_withSI_sans%20marque.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14075

International audience 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.