Seasonal Response of Planktonic Foraminifera to Surface Ocean Condition: Sediment Trap Results from the Central North Pacific Ocean

The fluxes of planktonic foraminifera (calcareous shell producing zooplankton) were examined in order to clarify temporal and regional variations in production in the upper ocean in relation to hydrographic conditions. Three time-series sediment traps were deployed in the central North Pacific along 175°E for about one year, beginning in June 1993. Trap sites were located in the subarctic, the transition, and the subtropical water masses, from north to south. The southernmost site was under the influence of the transition zone in January to May. Both temporal and regional fluxes of planktonic foraminifera showed large variations during the experiment. In the subarctic water mass, high total foraminiferal fluxes (TFFs) and high organic matter fluxes (OMFs) were observed during summer to fall, suggesting that food availability is the most important factor for the production of planktonic foraminifera. Furthermore, low TFFs during winter were ascribed to low food availability and low temperatures. The OMFs and TFFs correlated well and increased rapidly after the disruption of the seasonal thermocline during winter, peaking in late February to early March in the transition zone. In the subtropical water mass, both OMFs and TFFs remained low due to lower productivity under oligotrophic conditions. In general, TFFs show a positive correlation with OMFs during the trap experiment, suggesting that food availability is one of the factors controlling the production of planktonic foraminifera in the central North Pacific. Relatively low TFFs during summer to fall in the subtropical water mass may be caused by the thermal structure of the upper ocean. Low SST possibly reduces the production of foraminifera during winter in the subarctic region.     

Growth,feeding and ecological roles of the mixotrophic and heterotrophic dinoflagellates in marine planktonic food webs

Planktonic mixotrophic and heterotrophic dinoflagellates are ubiquitous protists and often abundant in marine environments. Recently many phototrophic dinoflagellate species have been revealed to be mixotrophic organisms and also it is suggested that most dinoflagellates may be mixotrophic or heterotrophic protists. The mixotrophic and heterotrophic dinoflagellates are able to feed on diverse prey items including bacteria, picoeukaryotes, nanoflagellates, diatoms, other dinoflagellates, heterotrophic protists, and metazoans due to their diverse feeding mechanisms. In turn they are ingested by many kinds of predators. Thus, the roles of the dinoflagellates in marine planktonic food webs are very diverse. The present paper reviewed the kind of prey which mixotrophic and heterotrophic dinoflagellates are able to feed on, feeding mechanisms, growth and ingestion rates of dinoflagellates, grazing impact by dinoflagellate predators on natural prey populations, predators on dinoflagellates, and red tides dominated by dinoflagellates. Based on this information, we suggested a new marine planktonic food web focusing on mixotrophic and heterotrophic dinoflagellates and provided an insight on the roles of dinoflagellates in the food web.     

Lethality of increasing CO2 levels on deep-sea copepods in the western North Pacific

The first CO₂ exposure experiments on several species of pelagic copepods inhabiting surface and deep layers in the western North Pacific were conducted. Living organisms were collected from two layers between the surface and 1,500 m between latitudes of 11 and 44°N, and they were exposed aboard ship to various pCO₂ up to about 98,000 μatm. Mortality of copepods from both shallow and deep layers in subarctic to subtropical regions increased with increasing pCO₂ and exposure time. Deep-living copepods showed higher tolerance to pCO₂ than shallow-living copepods. Furthermore, deep-living copepods from subarctic and transitional regions had higher tolerances than the subtropical copepods. The higher tolerances of the deep-living copepods from subarctic and transitional regions may be due to the adaptation to the natural pCO₂ conditions in the subarctic ocean.     

Latitudinal Differences in the Planktonic Biomass and Community Structure Down to the Greater Depths in the Western North Pacific

As part of the research program WEST-COSMIC Phase I (1997–2001), vertical profiles down to the greater depths (0–2000 m or 5800 m) of the plankton community structure composed of heterotrophic bacteria, phytoplankton, protozooplankton and metazooplankton were studied at one station in each subarctic (44°N) and in transitional region (39°N), and two stations in subtropical region (30°N and 25°N); all in 137–155°E in the western North Pacific Ocean. The biomass of all four taxonomic groups decreased rapidly with increasing depths at all stations, although the magnitude of depth-related decrease differed among the groups. As plankton community structure, metazooplankton biomass and bacterial biomass occupied >50% of the total in 0–2000 and 2000–4000 or 5000 m strata, respectively, at subarctic and transitional stations, while bacterial biomass contributed to >50% of the total consistently from 0 through 4800 or 5800 m at subtropical stations. Metazooplankton biomass integrated over the greater depths exhibited a clear latitudinal pattern (high north and low south), but this was not the case for those of the other taxonomic groups. As a component of metazooplankton, an appreciable contribution of diapausing copepods to the metazooplankton was noted at subarctic and transitional stations, but they were few or nil at subtropical stations. As protozooplankton assemblages, heterotrophic microflagellates (HMF) and dinoflagellates were two major components at subarctic and transitional stations, but were only HMF predominated at subtropical stations. From biomass ratios between heterotrophic bacteria, HMF and dinoflagellates, “sinking POC-DOC-heterotrophic bacteria-HMF-heterotrophic dinoflagellates” link was proposed as a microbial food chain operative in the deep layer of the western North Pacific. All results are discussed in the light of latitudinal differences in the structure and functioning of plankton community contributing to the ‘biological pump’ in the western North Pacific Ocean. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Effects of an Artificial Breakwater on the Distributions of Planktonic Microbial Communities

The summer distributions of planktonic microbial communities (heterotrophic and phtosynthetic bacteria, phtosynthetic and heterotrophic nanoflagellates, ciliate plankton, and microphytoplankton) were compared between inner and outer areas of Lake Sihwa, divided by an artificial breakwater, located on the western coast of Korea, in September 2003. The semienclosed, inner area was characterized by hyposaline surface water (<17 psu), and by low concentrations of dissolved oxygen (avg. 0.4 mg L¹) and high concentrations of inorganic nutrients (nitrogenous nutrients >36 μM, phosphate <4 μM) in the bottom layer. Higher densities of heterotrophic bacteria and nanoflagellates also occurred in the inner area than did in the outer area, while microphytoplankton (mainly diatoms) occurred abundantly in the outer area. A tiny tintinnid ciliate, Tintinnopsis nana, bloomed into more than 10⁶ cells L¹ at the surface layer of the inner area, while its abundance was much lower (10³-10⁴ cells L¹) in the outer area of the breakwater. Ciliate abundance was highly correlated with heterotrophic bacteria (r = 0.886, p < 0.001) and heterotrophic flagellates (r = 0.962, p < 0.001), indicating that rich food availability may have led to theT. nana bloom. These results suggest that the breakwater causes the eutrophic environment in artificial lakes with limited flushing of enriched water and develops into abundant bacteria, nanoflagellates, and ciliates.     

Full-depth profiles of prokaryotes,heterotrophic nanoflagellates,and ciliates along a transect from the equatorial to the subarctic central Pacific Ocean

Studies in epipelagic waters report higher heterotrophic microbial biomass in the productive high latitudes than in the oligotrophic low latitudes; however, biogeographical data are scarce in the deep ocean. To examine the hypothesis that the observed latitudinal differences in heterotrophic microbial biomass in the epipelagic zone also occur at depth, abundance and biomass of heterotrophic prokaryotes, nanoflagellates (HNF), and ciliates were determined at depths of 5–5000 m in the central Pacific between August and September of 2005. Heterotrophic microbial biomass increased from the tropical to the subarctic region over the full water column, with latitudinal differences in prokaryotic biomass increasing from 2.3-fold in the epipelagic zone to 4.4-fold in the bathypelagic zone. However, the latitudinal difference in HNF and ciliate biomass decreased with depth. In the mesopelagic zone, the vertical attenuation rate of prokaryotic abundance, which was calculated as the linear regression slope of log-log plot of abundance versus depth, ranged from –0.55 to –1.26 and was more pronounced (steeper slope) in the lower latitudes. In contrast, the vertical attenuation rate of HNF in the mesopelagic zone (–1.06 to –1.27) did not differ with latitude. In the subarctic, the attenuation rate of HNF was 1.7 times steeper than for prokaryotes. These results suggest the accumulation of prokaryotes in the deep subarctic Pacific, possibly due to low grazing pressure. Although the vertical attenuation rate of ciliates was steepest in the bathypelagic zone, HNF abundance did not further decrease at depths below 1000 m, except for at 2000 m where HNF was lowest across the study area. Ciliate abundance ranged 0.3–0.8 cells l^–1 at 4000 m, and were below the detection limit (<0.1 cells l ^–1) at 5000 m. To our knowledge, this study presents the first data for ciliates below 2000 m.     

Community structure and grazing of the nano-microzooplankton on the continental shelf of the Bay of Biscay

In order to investigate the parameters controlling the heterotrophic protists (nano-microzooplankton) on the continental shelf of the southern Bay of Biscay, plankton communities and their physico-chemical environment were studied 4 times in February, April, June and September–October 2004 at three stations in the euphotic zone in the Bay of Biscay. The abundance and carbon biomass of heterotrophic protists (ciliates, heterotrophic dinoflagellates and nanoflagellates) as well as all the others groups of plankton (picoplankton, nanophytoplankton, diatoms, autotrophic dinoflagellates, metazoan microzooplankton and mesozooplankton), the environmental parameters and the primary and bacteria production were evaluated at each sampling period. Microzooplankton grazing experiments were undertaken at the same time. Ciliates and heterotrophic dinoflagellates accounted for the main major component of nano- and microzooplankton communities in term of biomass. The total carbon biomass of heterotrophic protists was highest in spring and lowest at the end of summer. The development of heterotrophic protists started after a winter microphytoplankton bloom (principally large diatoms), the biomass was lower in June and was low in September (through inappropriate prey). The carbon requirement of microzooplankton ranged from 50 to more than 100% of daily primary, bacterial and nanoflagellate production. The heterotrophic protist community was predominantly constrained by bottom-up control in spring and at the end of summer via food availability and quality.     

Benthic Foraminifera as ecological indicators for water quality on the Great Barrier Reef

Benthic foraminifera are established indicators for Water Quality (WQ) in Florida and the Caribbean. However, nearshore coral reefs of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) and other Pacific regions are also subjected to increased nutrient and sediment loads. Here, we investigate the use of benthic foraminifera as indicators to assess status and trends of WQ on GBR reefs. We quantified several sediment parameters and the foraminiferan assemblage composition on 20 reefs in four geographic regions of the GBR, and along a water column nutrient and turbidity gradient. Twenty-seven easily recognisable benthic foraminiferan taxa (>63 μm) were distinguished. All four geographic regions differed significantly (p < 0.05, ANOSIM) in their assemblage composition, and a redundancy analysis (RDA) showed that sediment parameters only explained a small proportion of the variance in the assemblage composition. On nine reefs along a previously studied water quality gradient, foraminifera showed a distinct shift in assemblage composition towards larger symbiont-bearing taxa from turbid inner shelf towards clearer outer shelf reefs. A RDA separated symbiotic and aposymbiotic (heterotrophic) taxa. In addition, total suspended solid and water column chlorophyll a concentrations were negatively correlated, and optical depth and distance to the mainland were positively correlated, with the abundance of symbiont-bearing taxa. Several large foraminifera were identified as indicators for offshore, clear water conditions. In contrast, heterotrophic rotaliids and a species retaining plastids (Elphidium sp.) where highly characteristic for low light, higher nutrient conditions. Application of the FORAM index to GBR assemblage composition showed a significant increase in the value of this index with increased distance from the mainland in the Whitsunday region (r² = 0.75, p < 0.001), and therefore with increasing light and decreased nutrient availability. We conclude that it will be possible to apply this index to GBR and possibly other Pacific reefs after some adaptations and additional experimental work on species-specific limiting factors.     

Temporal Trends in Apparent Oxygen Utilization in the Upper Pycnocline of the North Pacific: 1980–2000

We present a compilation of apparent oxygen utilization (AOU) changes observed in the upper pycnocline of the North Pacific Ocean over the last several decades. The goal here is to place previously-published data in a common format, and assess the causes of the observed changes. The general trend along repeat cross sections of the eastern and western subtropical ocean and the subarctic ocean is an increase in AOU from the mid 1980s to the mid 1990s. AOU has also been increasing in a time-series study in the northwest subarctic Ocean off of Japan since the late 1960s. Observed AOU changes south of 35°N in the subtropical ocean are 10–20 μmol kg⁻¹, with much greater changes, reaching 60–80 μmol kg⁻¹ in isolated areas, in the subtropical/subarctic boundary and the subarctic ocean. Analysis of changes in both AOU and salinity on isopycnals suggests that there are significant salinity-normalized increases that must be due to alteration in the rate of ventilation or organic matter degradation. A common feature in the data is that the maximum increase in AOU is centered near the density horizon σ_θ= 26.6. Time series results from the Oyashio Current region near the winter outcrop area of this density horizon indicate that surface waters there have become fresher with time, which may mean this density surface has ceased to outcrop in the latter decades of the 20th century. Whether this is due to natural decadal-scale changes or anthropogenic influences can be decided by determining future trends in AOU on these density surfaces. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A study on the distribution of total bacteria,bacterial aggregates and heterotrophic bacteria in the sea

The concentrations of total bacteria, bacterial aggregates and so-called heterotrophic bacteria were compared and discussed with special reference to the watermasses that vertically layered at the western North Pacific central region and the subarctic Pacific region.The concentrations of bacterial aggregates, having cells more than 25, were considerably uniform throughout the ocean depths. This was also shown indirectly by the measurements of size spectrum and organic constituents of particles, especially in the subsurface and deep watermasses. The so-called heterotrophic bacteria decreased in their concentration in deeper watermass, and the decrease was not obvious within each watermass but obvious among watermasses.     

Linking phytoplankton community size composition with temperature, plankton food web structure and sea-air CO2 flux

Data collected at open water stations (depth>400 m) in all major ocean basins in 2006-2008 are used to examine the relationship between the size structure of the phytoplankton community (determined by size fractionated chlorophyll filtration), temperature and inorganic nutrient availability. A significant relationship (p<0.0005) was found between community size structure and temperature, with the importance of large cells in the community decreasing with increase in temperature. Although weaker than the temperature relationship, significant relationships were also noted between community cell size and DIN (nitrate, nitrite and ammonium: p=0.034) and phosphate (p=0.031) concentrations. When the data were divided into two groups of equal size, representing the samples with the highest and lowest DIN/phosphate concentrations, respectively, no difference could be identified between the slopes of the lines representing the relationship between size structure and temperature. There was, however, a difference in the intercepts between the two groups. If the relationship between size and temperature was only a response to nutrient availability, we would expect that the response would be the strongest in the groups with the lowest nutrient concentrations. These results suggest that, in addition to a nutrient effect, temperature may also directly influence the size structure of phytoplankton communities. The size structure of the phytoplankton community in this study correlated to the magnitude of primary production, export production (determined after Laws et al., 2000) and integrated water column chlorophyll. Significant relationships were also found between mesozooplankton production (determined using the proxy of calanoid+cyclopoid nauplii abundance as a percentage of the total number of these copepods) and both temperature and phytoplankton size, with production being the lowest in the warmest waters where phytoplankton were the smallest. In the North Atlantic, export production and community size structure appear to be related to ocean uptake of CO₂ from the atmosphere. The reported results suggest that ocean warming may directly alter plankton community structure. This, in turn, may alter the structure of marine food webs and impact the performance of the open ocean as a natural carbon sink.     

Regeneration of a warm anticyclonic ring by cold water masses within the western subarctic gyre of the North Pacific

Regeneration of a warm anticyclonic ring as a result of interaction with cold water masses was observed within the western subarctic gyre of the North Pacific. Satellite, profiling float, and shipboard observations revealed that a warm-core ring originated from the Kuroshio Extension, propagating northeastwards, entrained cold and fresh water masses from the coastal area of Hokkaido, which are typically recognized within the ring as water that is colder than 2.5 °C. The potential temperature and planetary contribution of potential vorticity of the cold water in the coastal area of Hokkaido were <2 °C and 15 × 10^?11 m^?1s^?1, respectively, suggesting that it originated from the Sea of Okhotsk. After the intrusion, the warm core of the ring cooled, freshened, and contracted, while the outer and lower parts became occupied by the cold and fresh water; however, even after the cooling, the positive surface elevation and downward depression of the main pycnocline, typical of an anticyclonic ring, were still evident. The ring continued to propagate northeastwards, with the main part of its structure occupied by the cold water, but changed its direction of travel from northwest to west-southwest 8 months after the cold-water event, and was finally absorbed into another warm-core ring. It is suggested that these anticyclonic rings, which transported and mixed warm and cold water masses, play important roles in the cross-gyre exchange of subtropical and subarctic waters in the North Pacific.     

Nutrient variability in the mixed layer of the subarctic Pacific Ocean, 1987–2010

Data collected primarily from commercial ships between 1987 and 2010 are used to provide details of seasonal, interannual and bidecadal variability in nutrient supply and removal in the surface ocean mixed layer across the subarctic Pacific. Linear trend analyses are used to look for impacts of climate change in oceanic domains (geographic regions) representing the entire subarctic ocean. Trends are mixed and weak (generally not significant) in both winter and summer despite evidence that the upper ocean is becoming more stratified. Overall, these data suggest little change in the winter resupply of the mixed layer with nutrients over the past 23 years. The few significant trends indicate a winter increase in nitrate (~0.16 μM year⁻¹) in the Bering Sea and in waters off the British Columbia coast, and a decline in summer phosphate (0.018 μM year⁻¹) in the Bering. An oscillation in Bering winter nutrient maxima matches the lunar nodal cycle (18.6 years) suggesting variability in tidal mixing intensity in the Aleutian Islands affects nutrient transport. Nitrate removal from the seasonal mixed layer varies between 6 μM along the subarctic–subtropical boundary and 18 μM off the north coast of Japan, with April to September new production rates in the subarctic Pacific being estimated at 2 and 6 moles C m⁻². Changes in nutrient removal in the Bering and western subarctic Pacific (WSP) suggest either the summer mixed layer is thinning with little change in new production or new production is increasing which would require an increase in iron transport to these high-nutrient low-chlorophyll (HNLC) waters. Si/N and N/P removal ratios of 2.1 and 19.7 are sufficient to push waters into Si then N limitation with sufficient iron supply. Because ~3 μM winter nitrate is transferred to reduced N pools in summer, new production calculated from seasonal nutrient drawdown should not be directly equated to export production.     

Biomass and trophic structure of the plankton community in subtropical and temperate waters of the northwestern Pacific Ocean

This study examined the biomass structure of autotrophic and heterotrophic plankton along a trophic gradient in the northwestern Pacific Ocean in an attempt to understand planktonic food web structure. Autotrophic biomass exceeded that of heterotrophic organisms in all sampling regions, but with lesser contribution to total planktonic biomass at stations of higher phytoplankton biomass, including the northern East China Sea, compared to the regions of lower phytoplankton biomass. The proportion of the biomass of heterotrophic bacteria, nanoflagellates (HNF), and dinoflagellates (HDF) relative to that of phytoplankton was all inversely related to phytoplankton biomass, but positive relationships were observed for both ciliates and mesozooplankton. Mesozooplankton biomass inclined greater than phytoplankton along the gradient of phytoplankton biomass, with biomass rise being most closely associated with ciliate and HDF biomass and, to a lesser degree, with large phytoplankton (>3?μm). Both bacteria and picophytoplankton were significantly and positively related to the biomass ratio of mesozooplankton to the sum of HDF and ciliates (i.e., proxy of mesozooplankton predation on protozoans), but no positive relationship was apparent either for HNF or for large phytoplankton. Such relationships may result from predation relief on lower food webs associated with mesozooplankton feeding on protistan plankton.     

Viruses,bacteria, and heterotrophic nanoflagellates in Laptev Sea plankton

The paper considers the concentrations and functional characteristics of viruses, bacteria, and heterotrophic nanoflagellates determined for the first time in the Laptev Sea in August-September, 2014. The abundance of bacteria, viruses, and heterotrophic nanoflagellates varied from 110.1 × 10³ to 828.4 × 10³ cells/mL, from 384.2 × 10³ to 2932.8 × 10³ particles/mL, and from 108 to 651 cells/mL, respectively. The daily bacterioplankton production varied from 4.2 × 10³ to 381.7 × 10³ cells/mL, with an average of 117.6 × 10³ cells/mL. Electron transmission microscopy has for the first time shown that the frequency of visibly infected bacterial cells varied from 0.2 to 2.0% (0.8% on average) of N_B. The average virus-induced mortality of bacteria was 6.3% of bacterioplankton production, with variations ranging from 1.4 to 16.9%. Grazing on bacteria by heterotrophic nanoflagellates contributed more to bacteria mortality than virus-induced bacterial lysis. By grazing on bacteria, heterotrophic nanoflagellates consumed large quantities of viruses located on the surface and inside bacterial cells.     

Microzooplankton composition,biomass and grazing rates along the WOCE SR3 line between Tasmania and Antarctica

Microzooplankton species composition and grazing rates on phytoplankton were investigated along a transect between ∼46 and 67°S, and between 140 and 145°E. Experiments were conducted in summer between November 2nd and December 14th in 2001. The structure of the microbial food web changed considerably along the transect and was associated with marked differences in the physical and chemical environment encountered in the different water masses and frontal regions. On average microzooplankton grazing experiments indicated that 91%, 102%, and 157%, (see results) of the phytoplankton production would be grazed in the <200, <20 and <2 μm size fractions, respectively, indicating microzooplankton grazing was potentially constraining phytoplankton populations (<200 μm) along most of the transect. Small ciliates in general and especially oligotrich species declined in importance from the relatively warm, Southern Subtropical Front waters (6.8 μg C/L) to the colder waters of the southern branch of the Polar Front (S-PF), (∼0.5 μg C/L) before increasing again near the Antarctic landmass. Large changes in microzooplankton dominance were observed, with heterotrophic nanoflagellates (HNF), ciliates and larger dinoflagellates having significant biomass in different water masses. HNF were the dominant grazers when chlorophyll a was low in areas such as the Inter-Polar Frontal Zone (IPFZ), while in areas of elevated biomass such as the S-PF and Southern Antarctic Circumpolar Current (SACC), a mix of copepod nauplii and large heterotrophic and mixotrophic dinoflagellates tended to dominate the grazing community. In the S-PF and SACC water masses the tight coupling observed between the microzooplankton grazers and phytoplankton populations over most of the rest of the transect was relaxed. In these regions grazing was low on the >20 μm size fraction of chlorophyll a, which dominated the biomass, while smaller diatoms and nanoplankton in the <20 μm size fraction were still heavily grazed. The lack of grazing pressure on large phytoplankton contributes to this region's potential to export carbon with larger cells known to have higher sinking rates.     

State Estimation of the North Pacific Ocean by a Four-Dimensional Variational Data Assimilation Experiment

A four-dimensional variational data assimilation system has been applied to an experiment to describe the dynamic state of the North Pacific Ocean. A synthesis of available observational records and a sophisticated ocean general circulation model produces a dynamically consistent dataset, which, in contrast to the nudging approach, provides realistic features of the seasonally-varying ocean circulation with no artificial sources/sinks for temperature and salinity fields. This new dataset enables us to estimate heat and water mass transports in addition to the qualification of water mass formation and movement processes. A sensitivity experiment on our assimilation system reveals that the origin of the North Pacific Intermediate Water can be traced back to the Sea of Okhotsk and the Bering Sea in the subarctic region and to the subtropical Kuroshio region further south. These results demonstrate that our data assimilation system is a very powerful tool for the identification and characterization of ocean variabilities and for our understanding of the dynamic state of ocean circulation. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

浪致混合对亚热带冬季海洋混合强度的影响

上层海洋在全球气候系统中起着至关重要的作用。对上层海洋层结及混合的模拟偏差一直是海洋和气候数值模式发展中悬而未决的问题。本文首先评估了CMIP5中45个模式对上层海洋层结模拟的偏差,确认了冬季亚热带地区海洋模式垂向混合偏强。随后,基于自然资源部第一海洋研究所地球系统模式(FIO-ESM v1.0),分别开展了1986-2005年期间包含和关闭海浪垂向混合情况下的数值实验,分析浪致混合对亚热带冬季海洋混合强度模拟的影响及机制。发现浪致混合使得气候模式中亚热带海域冬季的海洋层结增强,增强的层结使上层海洋更加稳定。首次揭示了增加浪致混合反而降低了海洋总体的垂向混合率:浪致混合使北半球冬季亚热带海域混合率从无浪实验的227 cm²/s降低到有浪实验的178 cm²/s,降低了21.6%;南半球冬季亚热带海域混合率从无浪实验的189 cm²/s降低到有浪实验的165 cm²/s,降低了12.7%。进一步分析发现,浪致混合主要是通过增加冬季亚热带海域上层海洋的热含量从而强化了海洋的层结,最终改善了气候模式对上层...     

Long-term change and variation of salinity in the western North Pacific subtropical gyre revealed by 50-year long observations along 137°E

The 137°E repeat hydrographic section for 50 winters during 1967–2016 has been analyzed to examine interannual to interdecadal variations and long-term changes of salinity and temperature in the surface and intermediate layers of the western North Pacific, with a particular focus on freshening in the subtropical gyre. Rapid freshening on both isobars and isopycnals began in the mid-1990s and persisted for the last 20 years in the upper main thermocline/halocline in the western subtropical gyre. In addition, significant decadal variability of salinity existed in the subtropical mode water (STMW), as previously reported for the shallower layers. An analysis of the 144°E repeat hydrographic section during 1984–2013 supplemented by Argo profiling float data in 2014 and 2015 revealed that the freshening trend and decadal variability observed at 137°E originated in the winter mixed layer in the Kuroshio Extension (KE) region and was transmitted southwestward to 137°E 1–2 years later in association with the subduction and advection of STMW. The mechanism of these changes and variations in the source region was further investigated. In addition to the surface freshwater flux in the KE region pointed out by previous studies, the decadal KE variability in association with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation likely contributes to the decadal salinity variability through water exchange between the subtropics and the subarctic across the KE. Interdecadal change in both the surface freshwater flux and the KE state, however, failed to explain the rapid freshening for the last 20 years.     

Phytoplankton community structures in shelf and oceanic waters off southeast Brazil (20°–25°S), as determined by pigment signatures

The influences of the hydrological features and environmental conditions in the phytoplankton community found in the Campos Basin area in the Atlantic Ocean (20° to 25°S; 42° to 38°W) were studied using HPLC/CHEMTAX pigment analysis. Samples were collected at 72 stations distributed along the 25–3000 m isobaths at two depths during two seasonal periods (rainy and dry). Seven taxonomic groups of phytoplankton were detected (diatoms, dinoflagellates, prasinophytes, cryptophytes, haptophytes, pelagophytes and cyanobacteria). Redundancy analysis showed that the spatial and temporal patterns observed in the distribution of the phytoplanktonic groups were primarily related to variations in the availability of light and nutrients. Nutrient variations were caused by South Atlantic Central Water seasonal intrusions over the continental shelf region. Cyanobacteria predominated in the rainy season, while diatoms, Haptophyceae and Prasinophyceae, were associated with higher nutrient availability in the dry season. In the inner shelf region, diatoms dominated and were associated with increased conditions of turbulence and nutrient availability. Haptophytes and prasinophytes were predominant on the outer shelf and shelf-break regions associated with high nutrient concentrations and availability of light. Prochlorococcus was related to oceanic waters (in both dry and rainy periods) or to low nutrient/strongly stratified shelf waters (rainy period). In contrast, Synechococcus was widely distributed in both the shelf and oceanic regions. Variation in the quality of light between coastal and oceanic waters was probably responsible for the distributions observed. Through HPLC/CHEMTAX pigment analysis we have developed a detailed picture of the influence of hydrological regime on the dynamics of the phytoplankton community in an under-studied shelf/ocean system in the tropical southern Atlantic Ocean.