Widespread phytoplankton blooms triggered by 2019–2020 Australian wildfires
Droughts and climate-change-driven warming are leading to more frequent and intense wildfires1,2,3, arguably contributing to the severe 2019–2020 Australian wildfires4. The environmental and ecological impacts of the fires include loss of habitats and the emission of substantial amounts of atmospher...
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ftunivtasmania:oai:eprints.utas.edu.au:37826 2023-05-15T18:25:05+02:00 Widespread phytoplankton blooms triggered by 2019–2020 Australian wildfires Tang, W Llort, J Weis, J Perron, MMG Basart, S Li, Z Sathyendranath, S Jackson, T Sanz Rodriguez, E Proemse, B Bowie, AR Schallenberg, C Strutton, PG Matear, R Cassar, N 2021 https://eprints.utas.edu.au/37826/ unknown Nature Publishing Group Tang, W, Llort, J orcid:0000-0003-1490-4521 , Weis, J, Perron, MMG orcid:0000-0001-5424-7138 , Basart, S, Li, Z, Sathyendranath, S, Jackson, T, Sanz Rodriguez, E, Proemse, B orcid:0000-0002-6630-6892 , Bowie, AR orcid:0000-0002-5144-7799 , Schallenberg, C orcid:0000-0002-3073-7500 , Strutton, PG orcid:0000-0002-2395-9471 , Matear, R and Cassar, N 2021 , 'Widespread phytoplankton blooms triggered by 2019–2020 Australian wildfires' , Nature, vol. 597, no. 7876 , 370–375 , doi:10.1038/s41586-021-03805-8 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03805-8>. wildfire phytoplankton bloom Australian wildfires Article PeerReviewed 2021 ftunivtasmania https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03805-8 2022-04-18T22:16:22Z Droughts and climate-change-driven warming are leading to more frequent and intense wildfires1,2,3, arguably contributing to the severe 2019–2020 Australian wildfires4. The environmental and ecological impacts of the fires include loss of habitats and the emission of substantial amounts of atmospheric aerosols5,6,7. Aerosol emissions from wildfires can lead to the atmospheric transport of macronutrients and bio-essential trace metals such as nitrogen and iron, respectively8,9, 10. It has been suggested that the oceanic deposition of wildfire aerosols can relieve nutrient limitations and, consequently, enhance marine productivity11,12, but direct observations are lacking. Here we use satellite and autonomous biogeochemical Argo float data to evaluate the effect of 2019–2020 Australian wildfire aerosol deposition on phytoplankton productivity. We find anomalously widespread phytoplankton blooms from December 2019 to March 2020 in the Southern Ocean downwind of Australia. Aerosol samples originating from the Australian wildfires contained a high iron content and atmospheric trajectories show that these aerosols were likely to be transported to the bloom regions, suggesting that the blooms resulted from the fertilization of the iron-limited waters of the Southern Ocean. Climate models project more frequent and severe wildfires in many regions1,2,3. A greater appreciation of the links between wildfires, pyrogenic aerosols13, nutrient cycling and marine photosynthesis could improve our understanding of the contemporary and glacial–interglacial cycling of atmospheric CO2 and the global climate system. Article in Journal/Newspaper Southern Ocean University of Tasmania: UTas ePrints Southern Ocean Nature 597 7876 370 375 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Tasmania: UTas ePrints |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtasmania |
language |
unknown |
topic |
wildfire phytoplankton bloom Australian wildfires |
spellingShingle |
wildfire phytoplankton bloom Australian wildfires Tang, W Llort, J Weis, J Perron, MMG Basart, S Li, Z Sathyendranath, S Jackson, T Sanz Rodriguez, E Proemse, B Bowie, AR Schallenberg, C Strutton, PG Matear, R Cassar, N Widespread phytoplankton blooms triggered by 2019–2020 Australian wildfires |
topic_facet |
wildfire phytoplankton bloom Australian wildfires |
description |
Droughts and climate-change-driven warming are leading to more frequent and intense wildfires1,2,3, arguably contributing to the severe 2019–2020 Australian wildfires4. The environmental and ecological impacts of the fires include loss of habitats and the emission of substantial amounts of atmospheric aerosols5,6,7. Aerosol emissions from wildfires can lead to the atmospheric transport of macronutrients and bio-essential trace metals such as nitrogen and iron, respectively8,9, 10. It has been suggested that the oceanic deposition of wildfire aerosols can relieve nutrient limitations and, consequently, enhance marine productivity11,12, but direct observations are lacking. Here we use satellite and autonomous biogeochemical Argo float data to evaluate the effect of 2019–2020 Australian wildfire aerosol deposition on phytoplankton productivity. We find anomalously widespread phytoplankton blooms from December 2019 to March 2020 in the Southern Ocean downwind of Australia. Aerosol samples originating from the Australian wildfires contained a high iron content and atmospheric trajectories show that these aerosols were likely to be transported to the bloom regions, suggesting that the blooms resulted from the fertilization of the iron-limited waters of the Southern Ocean. Climate models project more frequent and severe wildfires in many regions1,2,3. A greater appreciation of the links between wildfires, pyrogenic aerosols13, nutrient cycling and marine photosynthesis could improve our understanding of the contemporary and glacial–interglacial cycling of atmospheric CO2 and the global climate system. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Tang, W Llort, J Weis, J Perron, MMG Basart, S Li, Z Sathyendranath, S Jackson, T Sanz Rodriguez, E Proemse, B Bowie, AR Schallenberg, C Strutton, PG Matear, R Cassar, N |
author_facet |
Tang, W Llort, J Weis, J Perron, MMG Basart, S Li, Z Sathyendranath, S Jackson, T Sanz Rodriguez, E Proemse, B Bowie, AR Schallenberg, C Strutton, PG Matear, R Cassar, N |
author_sort |
Tang, W |
title |
Widespread phytoplankton blooms triggered by 2019–2020 Australian wildfires |
title_short |
Widespread phytoplankton blooms triggered by 2019–2020 Australian wildfires |
title_full |
Widespread phytoplankton blooms triggered by 2019–2020 Australian wildfires |
title_fullStr |
Widespread phytoplankton blooms triggered by 2019–2020 Australian wildfires |
title_full_unstemmed |
Widespread phytoplankton blooms triggered by 2019–2020 Australian wildfires |
title_sort |
widespread phytoplankton blooms triggered by 2019–2020 australian wildfires |
publisher |
Nature Publishing Group |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://eprints.utas.edu.au/37826/ |
geographic |
Southern Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Southern Ocean |
genre |
Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Southern Ocean |
op_relation |
Tang, W, Llort, J orcid:0000-0003-1490-4521 , Weis, J, Perron, MMG orcid:0000-0001-5424-7138 , Basart, S, Li, Z, Sathyendranath, S, Jackson, T, Sanz Rodriguez, E, Proemse, B orcid:0000-0002-6630-6892 , Bowie, AR orcid:0000-0002-5144-7799 , Schallenberg, C orcid:0000-0002-3073-7500 , Strutton, PG orcid:0000-0002-2395-9471 , Matear, R and Cassar, N 2021 , 'Widespread phytoplankton blooms triggered by 2019–2020 Australian wildfires' , Nature, vol. 597, no. 7876 , 370–375 , doi:10.1038/s41586-021-03805-8 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03805-8>. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03805-8 |
container_title |
Nature |
container_volume |
597 |
container_issue |
7876 |
container_start_page |
370 |
op_container_end_page |
375 |
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1766206253597458432 |