Environmental conditions favoring coccolithophore blooms in subarctic and arctic seas: a 20-year satellite and multi-dimensional statistical study

Simulation of factors affecting <i>Emiliania huxleyi</i> blooms in Arctic and sub-Arctic seas by CMIP5 climate models: model validation and selection

“…Reportedly, coccolithophores can affect the carbon and sulfur cycles in the surface ocean, at least within their bloom areas (Balch et al, 2016;Malin et al, 1993;Rivero-Calle et al, 2015;Winter et al, 2013). The effect of these algae on aquatic carbon chemistry results in changes to the carbon fluxes between the atmosphere and ocean (Balch et al, 2016;Morozov et al, 2019;Pozdnyakov et al, 2019;Shutler et al, 2013). Additionally, they contribute to the generation of sulfate aerosols, which scatter solar radiation in the atmosphere and act as cloud condensation nuclei, enabling cloud formation (Malin and Steinke, 2004).…”

“…Reportedly, the observed spatio-temporal variations are primarily driven by changes in sea surface temperature (SST); salinity; levels of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR); and nutrient and micronutrient availability, such as that of nitrate (NO 3 ), silicate (SI), ammonium (NH 4 ), phosphate (PO 4 ), and iron (Fe; Iglesias-Rodríguez et al, 2002;Krumhardt et al, 2017;Lavender et al, 2008;Zondervan, 2007). However, it has been found that, in addition to the above FFs, the water column stratification and wind speed (WS) at 10 m above the surface also condition the growth of E. huxleyi: a decrease in wind stress leads to formation of a shallow mixed layer and retention of algal cells within the zone of high levels of PAR (Raitsos et al, 2006). The intensity of water movements in general, and specifically water advection driven by ocean surface currents, was also highly consequential in this regard (Balch et al, 2016;Pozdnyakov et al, 2019).…”

“…However, it has been found that, in addition to the above FFs, the water column stratification and wind speed (WS) at 10 m above the surface also condition the growth of E. huxleyi: a decrease in wind stress leads to formation of a shallow mixed layer and retention of algal cells within the zone of high levels of PAR (Raitsos et al, 2006). The intensity of water movements in general, and specifically water advection driven by ocean surface currents, was also highly consequential in this regard (Balch et al, 2016;Pozdnyakov et al, 2019). Among the other factors affecting E. huxleyi blooms are carbonate chemistry variables such as dissolved CO 2 partial pressure (pCO 2 ) and pH, which are considered to be very important (Tyrrell and Merico, 2004).…”

“…Gregg et al, 2005) or statistical (e.g. Pozdnyakov et al, 2019) E. huxleyi bloom models, for which the prospective tendencies in FFs are employed. In turn, the tendencies in the FFs can be obtained from climate model output.…”

“…We analysed five oceanographic and meteorological variables, namely the SST; salinity averaged over 0-30 m (SS 30 m ); surface WS at a height of 10 m; ocean surface current speed (OCS); surface shortwave downwelling solar radiation (SDSR); and five biochemical variables, namely concentration of nutrients (NO 3 , PO 4 , and SI), pCO 2 , and pH. These FFs are known to affect the phytoplankton life cycle in sub-polar and polar latitudes (Iglesias-Rodríguez et al, 2002;Raitsos et al, 2006;Winter et al, 2013). The analysed CMIP5 GCMs are listed in Table 1: in total, we used outputs of 25 models for OCS; 28 for SS 30 m , SST, and SDSR; 30 for WS; 11 for PO 4 ; 13 for SI and pH; 15 for pCO 2 ; and 16 for NO 3 .…”