Ocean colour signature of climate change

Dutkiewicz, Stephanie; Hickman, Anna E.; Jahn, Oliver; Henson, Stephanie; Beaulieu, Claudie; Monier, Erwan

doi:10.1038/s41467-019-08457-x

Ocean colour signature of climate change

Journal Article · Mon Feb 04 00:00:00 EST 2019 · Nature Communications

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-08457-x· OSTI ID:1610276

^[1]; Hickman, Anna E. ^[2]; Jahn, Oliver ^[3]; Henson, Stephanie ^[4]; Beaulieu, Claudie ^[5]; ^[3]

Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); DOE/OSTI
Univ. of Southampton (United Kingdom)
Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
National Oceanography Centre Southampton (United kingdom)
National Oceanography Centre Southampton (United kingdom); Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, CA (United States)

Monitoring changes in marine phytoplankton is important as they form the foundation of the marine food web and are crucial in the carbon cycle. Often Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) is used to track changes in phytoplankton, since there are global, regular satellite-derived estimates. However, satellite sensors do not measure Chl-a directly. Instead, Chl-a is estimated from remote sensing reflectance (RRS): the ratio of upwelling radiance to the downwelling irradiance at the ocean’s surface. Using a model, we show that RRS in the blue-green spectrum is likely to have a stronger and earlier climate-change-driven signal than Chl-a. This is because RRS has lower natural variability and integrates not only changes to in-water Chl-a, but also alterations in other optically important constituents. Phytoplankton community structure, which strongly affects ocean optics, is likely to show one of the clearest and most rapid signatures of changes to the base of the marine ecosystem.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC)

Grant/Contract Number:: FG02-94ER61937

OSTI ID:: 1610276

Journal Information:: Nature Communications, Journal Name: Nature Communications Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 10; ISSN 2041-1723

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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