Full Text

Turn on search term navigation

© 2022. This work is published under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

We investigate the ways in which marine biologically mediated heating increases the surface atmospheric temperature. While the effects of phytoplankton light absorption on the ocean have gained attention over the past years, the impact of this biogeophysical mechanism on the atmosphere is still unclear. Phytoplankton light absorption warms the surface of the ocean, which in turn affects the air–sea heat and CO2 exchanges. However, the contribution of air–sea heat versus CO2 fluxes in the phytoplankton-induced atmospheric warming has not been yet determined. Different so-called climate pathways are involved. We distinguish heat exchange, CO2 exchange, dissolved CO2, solubility of CO2 and sea-ice-covered area. To shed more light on this subject, we employ the EcoGEnIE Earth system model that includes a new light penetration scheme and isolate the effects of individual fluxes. Our results indicate that phytoplankton-induced changes in air–sea CO2 exchange warm the atmosphere by 0.71 C due to higher greenhouse gas concentrations. The phytoplankton-induced changes in air–sea heat exchange cool the atmosphere by 0.02 C due to a larger amount of outgoing longwave radiation. Overall, the enhanced air–sea CO2 exchange due to phytoplankton light absorption is the main driver in the biologically induced atmospheric heating.

Details

Title
Climate pathways behind phytoplankton-induced atmospheric warming
Author
Asselot, Rémy 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Lunkeit, Frank 2 ; Holden, Philip B 3   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Hense, Inga 4   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

 Institute for Marine Ecosystem and Fishery Science, Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany; now at: Ifremer, University of Brest, CNRS, IRD, Laboratoire d'Océanographie Physique et Spatiale (LOPS), UMR6523, Centre de Bretagne, 29280 Plouzané, France 
 Meteorological Institute, Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany 
 Environment, Earth and Ecosystems, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK 
 Institute for Marine Ecosystem and Fishery Science, Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany 
Pages
223-239
Publication year
2022
Publication date
2022
Publisher
Copernicus GmbH
ISSN
17264170
e-ISSN
17264189
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2619491782
Copyright
© 2022. This work is published under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.