Diapycnal mixing across the photic zone of the NE Atlantic
Variable physical conditions such as vertical turbulent exchange, internal wave, and mesoscale eddy action affect the availability of light and nutrients for phytoplankton (unicellular algae) growth. It is hypothesized that changes in ocean temperature may affect ocean vertical density stratificatio...
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Language: | English |
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Online Access: | https://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/45/358945.pdf |
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ftnioz:oai:imis.nioz.nl:334342 2023-05-15T17:41:32+02:00 Diapycnal mixing across the photic zone of the NE Atlantic van Haren, H. Brussaard, C.P.D. Gerringa, L.J.A. van Manen, M.H. Middag, R. Groenewegen, R. 2021 application/pdf https://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/45/358945.pdf en eng info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/000620895200001 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/.org/10.5194/os-17-301-2021 https://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/45/358945.pdf info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess %3Ci%3EOcean+Sci.+17%3C%2Fi%3E%3A+301-318.+%3Ca+href%3D%22https%3A%2F%2Fdoi.org%2F10.5194%2Fos-17-301-2021%22+target%3D%22_blank%22%3Ehttps%3A%2F%2Fdoi.org%2F10.5194%2Fos-17-301-2021%3C%2Fa%3E info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2021 ftnioz https://doi.org/10.5194/os-17-301-2021 2022-05-01T14:14:05Z Variable physical conditions such as vertical turbulent exchange, internal wave, and mesoscale eddy action affect the availability of light and nutrients for phytoplankton (unicellular algae) growth. It is hypothesized that changes in ocean temperature may affect ocean vertical density stratification, which may hamper vertical exchange. In order to quantify variations in physical conditions in the northeast Atlantic Ocean, wesampled a latitudinal transect along 17 ± 5 ∘ W between 30 and 63 ∘ N in summer. A shipborne conductivity–temperature–depth (CTD) instrumented package was used with a custom-made modification of the pump inlet to minimize detrimental effects of ship motions on its data. Thorpe-scale analysis was used to establish turbulence values for the upper 500 m from three to six profiles obtained in a short CTD yo-yo, 3 to 5 h after local sunrise. From south to north, average temperature decreased together with stratification while turbulence values weakly increased or remained constant. Vertical turbulent nutrient fluxes did not vary significantly with stratification and latitude. This apparent lack of correspondence between turbulent mixing and temperature is likely due to internal waves breaking (increased stratification can support more internal waves), acting as a potential feedback mechanism. As this feedback mechanism mediates potential physical environment changes in temperature, global surface ocean warming may not affect the vertical nutrient fluxes to a large degree. We urge modellers to test this deduction as it could imply that the future summer phytoplankton productivity in stratified oligotrophic waters would experience little alterations in nutrient input from deeper waters. Article in Journal/Newspaper Northeast Atlantic NIOZ Repository (Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research) Ocean Science 17 1 301 318 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
NIOZ Repository (Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research) |
op_collection_id |
ftnioz |
language |
English |
description |
Variable physical conditions such as vertical turbulent exchange, internal wave, and mesoscale eddy action affect the availability of light and nutrients for phytoplankton (unicellular algae) growth. It is hypothesized that changes in ocean temperature may affect ocean vertical density stratification, which may hamper vertical exchange. In order to quantify variations in physical conditions in the northeast Atlantic Ocean, wesampled a latitudinal transect along 17 ± 5 ∘ W between 30 and 63 ∘ N in summer. A shipborne conductivity–temperature–depth (CTD) instrumented package was used with a custom-made modification of the pump inlet to minimize detrimental effects of ship motions on its data. Thorpe-scale analysis was used to establish turbulence values for the upper 500 m from three to six profiles obtained in a short CTD yo-yo, 3 to 5 h after local sunrise. From south to north, average temperature decreased together with stratification while turbulence values weakly increased or remained constant. Vertical turbulent nutrient fluxes did not vary significantly with stratification and latitude. This apparent lack of correspondence between turbulent mixing and temperature is likely due to internal waves breaking (increased stratification can support more internal waves), acting as a potential feedback mechanism. As this feedback mechanism mediates potential physical environment changes in temperature, global surface ocean warming may not affect the vertical nutrient fluxes to a large degree. We urge modellers to test this deduction as it could imply that the future summer phytoplankton productivity in stratified oligotrophic waters would experience little alterations in nutrient input from deeper waters. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
van Haren, H. Brussaard, C.P.D. Gerringa, L.J.A. van Manen, M.H. Middag, R. Groenewegen, R. |
spellingShingle |
van Haren, H. Brussaard, C.P.D. Gerringa, L.J.A. van Manen, M.H. Middag, R. Groenewegen, R. Diapycnal mixing across the photic zone of the NE Atlantic |
author_facet |
van Haren, H. Brussaard, C.P.D. Gerringa, L.J.A. van Manen, M.H. Middag, R. Groenewegen, R. |
author_sort |
van Haren, H. |
title |
Diapycnal mixing across the photic zone of the NE Atlantic |
title_short |
Diapycnal mixing across the photic zone of the NE Atlantic |
title_full |
Diapycnal mixing across the photic zone of the NE Atlantic |
title_fullStr |
Diapycnal mixing across the photic zone of the NE Atlantic |
title_full_unstemmed |
Diapycnal mixing across the photic zone of the NE Atlantic |
title_sort |
diapycnal mixing across the photic zone of the ne atlantic |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/45/358945.pdf |
genre |
Northeast Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Northeast Atlantic |
op_source |
%3Ci%3EOcean+Sci.+17%3C%2Fi%3E%3A+301-318.+%3Ca+href%3D%22https%3A%2F%2Fdoi.org%2F10.5194%2Fos-17-301-2021%22+target%3D%22_blank%22%3Ehttps%3A%2F%2Fdoi.org%2F10.5194%2Fos-17-301-2021%3C%2Fa%3E |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/000620895200001 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/.org/10.5194/os-17-301-2021 https://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/45/358945.pdf |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-17-301-2021 |
container_title |
Ocean Science |
container_volume |
17 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
301 |
op_container_end_page |
318 |
_version_ |
1766143155619495936 |