Multidecadal changes in biology influence the variability of the North Atlantic carbon sink
The North Atlantic Ocean is the most intense marine sink for anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) in the world's oceans, showing high variability and substantial changes over recent decades. However, the contribution of biology to the variability and trend of this sink is poorly understood. Here...
Published in: | Environmental Research Letters |
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Online Access: | https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/57417/ https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/57417/1/Ostle_2022_Environ._Res._Lett._17_114056.pdf https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac9ecf https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac9ecf |
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ftoceanrep:oai:oceanrep.geomar.de:57417 2024-02-11T10:06:02+01:00 Multidecadal changes in biology influence the variability of the North Atlantic carbon sink Ostle, Clare Landschützer, Peter Edwards, Martin Johnson, Martin Schmidtko, Sunke Schuster, Ute Watson, Andrew J Robinson, Carol 2022-11-16 text https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/57417/ https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/57417/1/Ostle_2022_Environ._Res._Lett._17_114056.pdf https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac9ecf https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac9ecf en eng IOP publishing https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/57417/1/Ostle_2022_Environ._Res._Lett._17_114056.pdf Ostle, C., Landschützer, P., Edwards, M., Johnson, M., Schmidtko, S. , Schuster, U., Watson, A. J. and Robinson, C. (2022) Multidecadal changes in biology influence the variability of the North Atlantic carbon sink. Open Access Environmental Research Letters, 17 (11). Art.Nr. 114056. DOI 10.1088/1748-9326/ac9ecf <https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326%2Fac9ecf>. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ac9ecf cc_by_4.0 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Article PeerReviewed info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2022 ftoceanrep https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac9ecf 2024-01-15T00:26:28Z The North Atlantic Ocean is the most intense marine sink for anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) in the world's oceans, showing high variability and substantial changes over recent decades. However, the contribution of biology to the variability and trend of this sink is poorly understood. Here we use in situ plankton measurements, alongside observation-based sea surface CO2 data from 1982 to 2020, to investigate the biological influence on the CO2 sink. Our results demonstrate that long term variability in the CO2 sink in the North Atlantic is associated with changes in phytoplankton abundance and community structure. These data show that within the subpolar regions of the North Atlantic, phytoplankton biomass is increasing, while a decrease is observed in the subtropics, which supports model predictions of climate-driven changes in productivity. These biomass trends are synchronous with increasing temperature, changes in mixing and an increasing uptake of atmospheric CO2 in the subpolar North Atlantic. Our results highlight that phytoplankton play a significant role in the variability as well as the trends of the CO2 uptake from the atmosphere over recent decades. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic OceanRep (GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre für Ocean Research Kiel) Environmental Research Letters 17 11 114056 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
OceanRep (GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre für Ocean Research Kiel) |
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ftoceanrep |
language |
English |
description |
The North Atlantic Ocean is the most intense marine sink for anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) in the world's oceans, showing high variability and substantial changes over recent decades. However, the contribution of biology to the variability and trend of this sink is poorly understood. Here we use in situ plankton measurements, alongside observation-based sea surface CO2 data from 1982 to 2020, to investigate the biological influence on the CO2 sink. Our results demonstrate that long term variability in the CO2 sink in the North Atlantic is associated with changes in phytoplankton abundance and community structure. These data show that within the subpolar regions of the North Atlantic, phytoplankton biomass is increasing, while a decrease is observed in the subtropics, which supports model predictions of climate-driven changes in productivity. These biomass trends are synchronous with increasing temperature, changes in mixing and an increasing uptake of atmospheric CO2 in the subpolar North Atlantic. Our results highlight that phytoplankton play a significant role in the variability as well as the trends of the CO2 uptake from the atmosphere over recent decades. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ostle, Clare Landschützer, Peter Edwards, Martin Johnson, Martin Schmidtko, Sunke Schuster, Ute Watson, Andrew J Robinson, Carol |
spellingShingle |
Ostle, Clare Landschützer, Peter Edwards, Martin Johnson, Martin Schmidtko, Sunke Schuster, Ute Watson, Andrew J Robinson, Carol Multidecadal changes in biology influence the variability of the North Atlantic carbon sink |
author_facet |
Ostle, Clare Landschützer, Peter Edwards, Martin Johnson, Martin Schmidtko, Sunke Schuster, Ute Watson, Andrew J Robinson, Carol |
author_sort |
Ostle, Clare |
title |
Multidecadal changes in biology influence the variability of the North Atlantic carbon sink |
title_short |
Multidecadal changes in biology influence the variability of the North Atlantic carbon sink |
title_full |
Multidecadal changes in biology influence the variability of the North Atlantic carbon sink |
title_fullStr |
Multidecadal changes in biology influence the variability of the North Atlantic carbon sink |
title_full_unstemmed |
Multidecadal changes in biology influence the variability of the North Atlantic carbon sink |
title_sort |
multidecadal changes in biology influence the variability of the north atlantic carbon sink |
publisher |
IOP publishing |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/57417/ https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/57417/1/Ostle_2022_Environ._Res._Lett._17_114056.pdf https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac9ecf https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac9ecf |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_relation |
https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/57417/1/Ostle_2022_Environ._Res._Lett._17_114056.pdf Ostle, C., Landschützer, P., Edwards, M., Johnson, M., Schmidtko, S. , Schuster, U., Watson, A. J. and Robinson, C. (2022) Multidecadal changes in biology influence the variability of the North Atlantic carbon sink. Open Access Environmental Research Letters, 17 (11). Art.Nr. 114056. DOI 10.1088/1748-9326/ac9ecf <https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326%2Fac9ecf>. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ac9ecf |
op_rights |
cc_by_4.0 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac9ecf |
container_title |
Environmental Research Letters |
container_volume |
17 |
container_issue |
11 |
container_start_page |
114056 |
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1790603423720144896 |