A rare and extensive summer bloom enhanced by ocean eddies in the oligotrophic western North Pacific Subtropical Gyre
Chow, C.H.; Cheah, W.; Tai, J.-H. (2017). A rare and extensive summer bloom enhanced by ocean eddies in the oligotrophic western North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. NPG Scientific Reports 7(1): 10 pp. https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-06584-3
In: Scientific Reports (Nature Publishing Group). Nature Publishing Group: London. ISSN 2045-2322; e-ISSN 2045-2322, more
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| Authors | | Top |
- Chow, C.H.
- Cheah, W.
- Tai, J.-H.
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| Abstract |
The North Pacific Subtropical Gyre (NPSG) is the largest ecosystem on Earth, and it plays a critical role in global ocean productivity and carbon cycling. Here, we report a rare and striking ~2000-km-long phytoplankton bloom that lasted over one month in the western part of the NPSG in summer 2003. The bloom resulted from the co-occurrence of a northward-shifted North Equatorial Current (NEC) supplying additional phosphate, and strong eddy activity that fueled productivity and spread chlorophyll mainly through horizontal stirring. The extensive one-month bloom had a maximum Chl concentration of six times the summer mean value and collectively fixed an additional five teragrams (5 × 1012 g) of carbon above the summer average. An increase in the pCO2 during the bloom suggests that most of the additionally fixed carbon was rapidly consumed. |
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