Ocean colour signature of climate change
Ocean colour signature of climate change
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.
Dutkiewicz, Stephanie
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Hickman, Anna
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Jahn, Oliver
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Henson, Stephanie
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Beaulieu, Claudie
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Monier, Erwan
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4 February 2019
Dutkiewicz, Stephanie
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Hickman, Anna
a99786c6-65e6-48c8-8b58-0d3b5608be92
Jahn, Oliver
a9d6758c-c0a0-45d4-ac90-1b6726957fe5
Henson, Stephanie
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Beaulieu, Claudie
13ae2c11-ebfe-48d9-bda9-122cd013c021
Monier, Erwan
7f1f43ec-8045-4d30-8675-6c5282ee3817
Dutkiewicz, Stephanie, Hickman, Anna, Jahn, Oliver, Henson, Stephanie, Beaulieu, Claudie and Monier, Erwan
(2019)
Ocean colour signature of climate change.
Nature Communications, 10, [578].
(doi:10.1038/s41467-019-08457-x).
Abstract
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.
Text
s41467-019-08457-x
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Accepted/In Press date: 14 January 2019
e-pub ahead of print date: 4 February 2019
Published date: 4 February 2019
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Local EPrints ID: 428259
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/428259
PURE UUID: 4585c4e9-cd1d-4e94-9f2d-95c4753f4675
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Date deposited: 19 Feb 2019 17:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 04:11
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Author:
Stephanie Dutkiewicz
Author:
Oliver Jahn
Author:
Erwan Monier
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