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Multidecadal changes in biology influence the variability of the North Atlantic carbon sink
Ostle, C.; Landschützer, P.; Edwards, M.; Johnson, M.; Schmidtko, S.; Schuster, U.; Watson, A.J.; Robinson, C. (2022). Multidecadal changes in biology influence the variability of the North Atlantic carbon sink. Environ. Res. Lett. 17(11): 114056. https://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac9ecf
In: Environmental Research Letters. IOP Publishing: Bristol. ISSN 1748-9326; e-ISSN 1748-9326
Peer reviewed article  
Available in  Authors 
    Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee: Open access 384948 [ download pdf ]
Keywords
Author keywords
    multidecadal, biology, influence, variability, North Atlantic, carbon sink, warming
Project Top | Authors 
  • Towards the Sustainable Development of the Atlantic Ocean: Mapping and Assessing the present and future status of Atlantic marine ecosystems under the influence of climate change and exploitation
Authors  Top 
  • Ostle, C.
  • Landschützer, P.
  • Edwards, M.
  • Johnson, M.
  • Schmidtko, S.
  • Schuster, U.
  • Watson, A.J.
  • Robinson, C.
Abstract
    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.
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