Pelagic primary production in the coastal Mediterranean Sea: variability, trends and contribution to basin scale budgets
We estimated pelagic primary production (PP) in the coastal ( 300 g C m−2) associated with major river discharges, to less productive provinces (< 50 g C m−2) located in the southeastern Mediterranean. PP variability in the Mediterranean Sea is dominated by interannual variations but overall tren...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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European Geosciences Union
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2020-457 https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00669/78073/80306.pdf https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00669/78073/90520.pdf https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00669/78073/ |
| Summary: | We estimated pelagic primary production (PP) in the coastal ( 300 g C m−2) associated with major river discharges, to less productive provinces (< 50 g C m−2) located in the southeastern Mediterranean. PP variability in the Mediterranean Sea is dominated by interannual variations but overall trend during the study period shows notable decrease (17 %) since 2012 concurring with a period of increasing sea surface temperatures in the Mediterranean Sea and positive North Atlantic Oscillation and the Mediterranean Oscillation climate indices. PP declines in most coastal areas (−0.05 to −0.1 g C m−2 per decade) except in the Adriatic where PP increases at +0.1 g C m−2 per decade. Regionalization of coastal waters based on PP seasonal patterns reveals the importance of river effluents in determining PP in coastal waters that can regionally increase in up to five-fold. Our study provides insight on the contribution of coastal waters to basin scale carbon balances in the Mediterranean Sea while highlighting the importance of the different temporal and spatial scales of variability. |
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