Decadal and Basin-scale Variation in Mixed Layer Depth and the Impact on Biological Production in the Central and North Pacific, 1960-88
Changes in winter and spring mixed layer depths in the North Pacific on decadal and basin scales affect biological production. Intransition zones these depths were 30–80% greater during 1977–1988 than during 1960–1976; in the subarctic zone they were 20–30 shallower. We attribute these changes to an...
Published in: | Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers |
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Digital Commons @ University of South Florida
1995
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Online Access: | https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/msc_facpub/2093 https://doi.org/10.1016/0967-0637(95)00075-H |
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ftusouthflorida:oai:digitalcommons.usf.edu:msc_facpub-3102 2023-07-30T03:55:48+02:00 Decadal and Basin-scale Variation in Mixed Layer Depth and the Impact on Biological Production in the Central and North Pacific, 1960-88 Polovina, Jeffrey J. Mitchum, Gary T. Evans, Geofrrey T. 1995-01-01T08:00:00Z https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/msc_facpub/2093 https://doi.org/10.1016/0967-0637(95)00075-H unknown Digital Commons @ University of South Florida https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/msc_facpub/2093 doi:10.1016/0967-0637(95)00075-H https://doi.org/10.1016/0967-0637(95)00075-H Marine Science Faculty Publications Life Sciences article 1995 ftusouthflorida https://doi.org/10.1016/0967-0637(95)00075-H 2023-07-13T21:07:48Z Changes in winter and spring mixed layer depths in the North Pacific on decadal and basin scales affect biological production. Intransition zones these depths were 30–80% greater during 1977–1988 than during 1960–1976; in the subarctic zone they were 20–30 shallower. We attribute these changes to an intensification of the Aleutian Low Pressure System. A deeper mixed layer might increase phytoplankton production in nutrient-poor regions by supplying more deep nutrients; it might decrease production in light-poor regions by mixing cells into darker water. A plankton population dynamics model suggests that a deeper subtropical mixed layer and a shallower subarctic mixed layer both would increase primary and secondary production by about 50%, and these increases were found not to be very sensitive to model parameter values; in the transition zone, however, the predicted change in production was smaller and more sensitive to changes in model parameters. Increases in higher tropic levels have been observed in subtropical and subarctic zones during 1977–1988. This is consistent with model results and the idea that the subtropical zone is nutrient-poor, the subartic zone is light-poor, and the transition zone is not consistently limited by any one thing. Further, our results show changes in mixed layer depths occur on decadal and basin scales and may be an important mechanism linking variation in the atmosphere and oceanic ecosystem productivity. Article in Journal/Newspaper aleutian low Subarctic University of South Florida St. Petersburg: Digital USFSP Pacific Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers 42 10 1701 1716 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of South Florida St. Petersburg: Digital USFSP |
op_collection_id |
ftusouthflorida |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Life Sciences |
spellingShingle |
Life Sciences Polovina, Jeffrey J. Mitchum, Gary T. Evans, Geofrrey T. Decadal and Basin-scale Variation in Mixed Layer Depth and the Impact on Biological Production in the Central and North Pacific, 1960-88 |
topic_facet |
Life Sciences |
description |
Changes in winter and spring mixed layer depths in the North Pacific on decadal and basin scales affect biological production. Intransition zones these depths were 30–80% greater during 1977–1988 than during 1960–1976; in the subarctic zone they were 20–30 shallower. We attribute these changes to an intensification of the Aleutian Low Pressure System. A deeper mixed layer might increase phytoplankton production in nutrient-poor regions by supplying more deep nutrients; it might decrease production in light-poor regions by mixing cells into darker water. A plankton population dynamics model suggests that a deeper subtropical mixed layer and a shallower subarctic mixed layer both would increase primary and secondary production by about 50%, and these increases were found not to be very sensitive to model parameter values; in the transition zone, however, the predicted change in production was smaller and more sensitive to changes in model parameters. Increases in higher tropic levels have been observed in subtropical and subarctic zones during 1977–1988. This is consistent with model results and the idea that the subtropical zone is nutrient-poor, the subartic zone is light-poor, and the transition zone is not consistently limited by any one thing. Further, our results show changes in mixed layer depths occur on decadal and basin scales and may be an important mechanism linking variation in the atmosphere and oceanic ecosystem productivity. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Polovina, Jeffrey J. Mitchum, Gary T. Evans, Geofrrey T. |
author_facet |
Polovina, Jeffrey J. Mitchum, Gary T. Evans, Geofrrey T. |
author_sort |
Polovina, Jeffrey J. |
title |
Decadal and Basin-scale Variation in Mixed Layer Depth and the Impact on Biological Production in the Central and North Pacific, 1960-88 |
title_short |
Decadal and Basin-scale Variation in Mixed Layer Depth and the Impact on Biological Production in the Central and North Pacific, 1960-88 |
title_full |
Decadal and Basin-scale Variation in Mixed Layer Depth and the Impact on Biological Production in the Central and North Pacific, 1960-88 |
title_fullStr |
Decadal and Basin-scale Variation in Mixed Layer Depth and the Impact on Biological Production in the Central and North Pacific, 1960-88 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Decadal and Basin-scale Variation in Mixed Layer Depth and the Impact on Biological Production in the Central and North Pacific, 1960-88 |
title_sort |
decadal and basin-scale variation in mixed layer depth and the impact on biological production in the central and north pacific, 1960-88 |
publisher |
Digital Commons @ University of South Florida |
publishDate |
1995 |
url |
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/msc_facpub/2093 https://doi.org/10.1016/0967-0637(95)00075-H |
geographic |
Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Pacific |
genre |
aleutian low Subarctic |
genre_facet |
aleutian low Subarctic |
op_source |
Marine Science Faculty Publications |
op_relation |
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/msc_facpub/2093 doi:10.1016/0967-0637(95)00075-H https://doi.org/10.1016/0967-0637(95)00075-H |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/0967-0637(95)00075-H |
container_title |
Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers |
container_volume |
42 |
container_issue |
10 |
container_start_page |
1701 |
op_container_end_page |
1716 |
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1772809813884928000 |