Satellite data reveal earlier and stronger phytoplankton blooms over fronts in the Gulf Stream region

Haëck, Clément; Lévy, Marina; Mangolte, Inès; Bopp, Laurent

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-1741-2023

Articles | Volume 20, issue 9

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-1741-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-1741-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 20, issue 9

Research article

|

11 May 2023

Research article |

| 11 May 2023

Satellite data reveal earlier and stronger phytoplankton blooms over fronts in the Gulf Stream region

Clément Haëck, Marina Lévy, Inès Mangolte, and Laurent Bopp

Data sets

Global Ocean Colour (Copernicus-GlobColour), Bio-Geo-Chemical, L3 (daily) from Satellite Observations (1997-ongoing) P. Garnesson, A. Mangin, O. Fanton d’Andon, J. Demaria, and M. Bretagnon https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00280

ESA SST CCI and C3S reprocessed sea surface temperature analyses S. Good, E. Fiedler, C. Mao, M. J. Martin, A. Maycock, R. Reid, J. Roberts-Jones, T. Searle, J. Waters, J. While, and M. Worsfold https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00169

Model code and software

Satellite data reveal earlier and stronger phytoplankton blooms over fronts in the Gulf Stream region: code and data Haëck, Clément; Lévy, Marina; Mangolte, Inès; Bopp, Laurent https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7470199

Short summary

Phytoplankton vary in abundance in the ocean over large regions and with the seasons but also because of small-scale heterogeneities in surface temperature, called fronts. Here, using satellite imagery, we found that fronts enhance phytoplankton much more where it is already growing well, but despite large local increases the enhancement for the region is modest (5 %). We also found that blooms start 1 to 2 weeks earlier over fronts. These effects may have implications for ecosystems.