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Satellite Evidence that E. huxleyi Phytoplankton Blooms Weaken Marine Carbon Sinks
Author(s) -
Kondrik D. V.,
Pozdnyakov D. V.,
Johannessen O. M.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2017gl076240
Subject(s) - emiliania huxleyi , coccolithophore , phytoplankton , bloom , oceanography , algal bloom , environmental science , ocean color , atmospheric sciences , satellite , ecology , biology , geology , nutrient , physics , astronomy
Phytoplankton blooms of the coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi are known to produce CO 2 , causing less uptake of atmospheric CO 2 by the ocean, but a global assessment of this phenomenon has so far not been quantified. Therefore, here we quantify the increase in CO 2 partial pressure (Δ p CO 2 ) at the ocean surface within E. huxleyi blooms for polar and subpolar seas using an 18 year ocean color time series (1998–2015). When normalized to p CO 2 in the absence of bloom, the mean and maximum Δ p CO 2 values within the bloom areas varied between 21.0%–43.3% and 31.6%–62.5%, respectively. These results might have appreciable implications for climatology, marine chemistry, and ecology.