Ocean's least productive waters are expanding
Abstract
A 9‐year time series of SeaWiFS remotely‐sensed ocean color data is used to examine temporal trends in the ocean's most oligotrophic waters, those with surface chlorophyll not exceeding 0.07 mg chl/m 3 . In the North and South Pacific, North and South Atlantic, outside the equatorial zone, the areas of low surface chlorophyll waters have expanded at average annual rates from 0.8 to 4.3%/yr and replaced about 0.8 million km 2 /yr of higher surface chlorophyll habitat with low surface chlorophyll water. It is estimated that the low surface chlorophyll areas in these oceans combined have expanded by 6.6 million km 2 or by about 15.0% from 1998 through 2006. In both hemispheres, evidence shows a more rapid expansion of the low surface chlorophyll waters during the winter. The North Atlantic, which has the smallest oligotrophic gyre is expanding most rapidly, both annually at 4.3%/yr and seasonally, in the first quarter at 8.5%/yr. Mean sea surface temperature in each of these 4 subtropical gyres also increased over the 9‐year period. The expansion of the low chlorophyll waters is consistent with global warming scenarios based on increased vertical stratification in the mid‐latitudes, but the rates of expansion we observe already greatly exceed recent model predictions.
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Oligotrophic areas in the subtropical gyres are expanding with an accelerating rate.
“Moreover, it has been reported that the oligotrophic areas in the subtropical gyres are expanding with an accelerating rate (Irwin & Oliver, 2009;Meng et al., 2021;Polovina & et al., 2008).”
From Recent Trends in SST, Chl‐<i>a</i>, Productivity and Wind Stress in Upwelling and Open Ocean Areas in the Upper Eastern North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre (2021) · cites this paper as Polovina & et al., 2008
Polovina et al. (2008) found an even higher SST warming rate (+0.36°C dec^-1) for the open ocean in the North Atlantic subtropical gyre from 1998 to 2007.
“An even higher SST warming rate (+0.36°C dec -1 ) for the open ocean than the maximum that we found (+0.27°C dec -1 ) was evidenced by Polovina et al. (2008) in the North Atlantic subtropical gyre from 1998 to 2007.”
From Recent Trends in SST, Chl‐<i>a</i>, Productivity and Wind Stress in Upwelling and Open Ocean Areas in the Upper Eastern North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre (2021) · cites this paper as Polovina et al. (2008)
Polovina et al. (2008) found supporting evidence of decreasing Chl-a concentrations and an expansion of oligotrophic waters.
“Polovina et al. (2008) analyzed the temporal and spatial evolution of the most oligotrophic areas in the subtropical gyres and found supporting evidence of decreasing Chl-a concentrations and an expansion of oligotrophic waters.”
From Recent Trends in SST, Chl‐<i>a</i>, Productivity and Wind Stress in Upwelling and Open Ocean Areas in the Upper Eastern North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre (2021) · cites this paper as Polovina et al. (2008)
Polovina et al. detected that the oligotrophic area in the North Atlantic subtropical gyre appeared to be expanding most rapidly (4.3% yr^-1).
“Indeed, the authors detected that the oligotrophic area in the North Atlantic subtropical gyre appeared to be expanding most rapidly (4.3% yr -1 ).”
From Recent Trends in SST, Chl‐<i>a</i>, Productivity and Wind Stress in Upwelling and Open Ocean Areas in the Upper Eastern North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre (2021) · cites this paper as Polovina et al. (2008)
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Polovina, J. J., Howell, E. A., & Abecassis, M.
- Affiliations
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (US)
- Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research University of Hawaii Honolulu Hawaii USA
- ORCID
- Howell, Evan A.
- Venue
- Geophysical Research Letters
- Publisher
- American Geophysical Union (AGU)
- Published
- 2008-02
- Volume
- 35
- Issue
- 3
- ISSN
- 0094-8276 (ISSN-L)
- 1944-8007
- OpenAlex
- W2099189943
- Cited by
- 836
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 35 · 2025: 33 · 2024: 42 · 2023: 60 · 2022: 64 · 2021: 64 · 2020: 54 · 2019: 45 · 2018: 44 · 2017: 42 · 2016: 45 · 2015: 51 · 2014: 36 · 2013: 56 · 2012: 39
- FWCI
- 28.97
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Geophysical Research Letters (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Oceanography › Marine and coastal ecosystems
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Oceanography › Oceanographic and Atmospheric Processes
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Aquatic Ecosystems and Phytoplankton Dynamics
- Keywords
- oligotrophic waters, chlorophyll trends, subtropical gyre, North Atlantic gyre, North Pacific gyre, South Atlantic gyre, South Pacific Gyre, sea surface temperature, ocean stratification, global warming, ocean color, SeaWiFS
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