Floats with bio-optical sensors reveal what processes trigger the North Atlantic bloom
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Author(s)
Claustre, H.
Mignot, Alexandre
Ferrari, Raffaele
Date Issued
January 2018
Journal
Nature Communications
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
Citation
Mignot, A. et al. “Floats with Bio-Optical Sensors Reveal What Processes Trigger the North Atlantic Bloom.” Nature Communications 9, 1 (January 2018): 190 © 2017 The Author(s)
Version
Final published version
Abstract
The North Atlantic bloom corresponds to a strong seasonal increase in phytoplankton that produces organic carbon through photosynthesis. It is still debated what physical and biological conditions trigger the bloom, because comprehensive time series of the vertical distribution of phytoplankton biomass are lacking. Vertical profiles from nine floats that sampled the waters of the North Atlantic every few days for a couple of years reveal that phytoplankton populations start growing in early winter at very weak rates. A proper bloom with rapidly accelerating population growth rates instead starts only in spring when atmospheric cooling subsides and the mixed layer rapidly shoals. While the weak accumulation of phytoplankton in winter is crucial to maintaining a viable population, the spring bloom dominates the overall seasonal production of organic carbon.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Terms of Use
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-02143-6
