Climate-driven trends in contemporary ocean productivity
Abstract
Contributing roughly half of the biosphere's net primary production (NPP), photosynthesis by oceanic phytoplankton is a vital link in the cycling of carbon between living and inorganic stocks. Each day, more than a hundred million tons of carbon in the form of CO2 are fixed into organic material by these ubiquitous, microscopic plants of the upper ocean, and each day a similar amount of organic carbon is transferred into marine ecosystems by sinking and grazing. The distribution of phytoplankton biomass and NPP is defined by the availability of light and nutrients (nitrogen, phosphate, iron). These growth-limiting factors are in turn regulated by physical processes of ocean circulation, mixed-layer dynamics, upwelling, atmospheric dust deposition, and the solar cycle. Satellite measurements of ocean colour provide a means of quantifying ocean productivity on a global scale and linking its variability to environmental factors. Here we describe global ocean NPP changes detected from space over the past decade. The period is dominated by an initial increase in NPP of 1,930 teragrams of carbon a year (Tg C yr(-1)), followed by a prolonged decrease averaging 190 Tg C yr(-1). These trends are driven by changes occurring in the expansive stratified low-latitude oceans and are tightly coupled to coincident climate variability. This link between the physical environment and ocean biology functions through changes in upper-ocean temperature and stratification, which influence the avail…
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The global upper ocean has warmed during recent decades, and this warming is accompanied by a decrease in chlorophyll-a and productivity.
“The global upper ocean has been warming during the last decades accompanied with a chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) and productivity decrease.”
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 Behrenfeld et al., 2006
Warming of the surface ocean is expected to increase stratification, resulting in limited vertical exchange with lower layers, reduced nutrient availability in the photic layer, and low primary production rates.
“In general, the warming of the surface ocean is expected to increase stratification resulting in limited vertical exchange with lower layers of the ocean and reduced nutrient availability in the photic layer which, in turn, results in low primary production rates (Behrenfeld et al., 2006;Bonino et al., 2019).”
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 Behrenfeld et al., 2006
Behrenfeld et al. (2006) found a global decrease in productivity.
“Behrenfeld et al. (2006) used NPP (VPGM, chlorophyll-based) data from 1997 until 2006 in order to examine ocean productivity.Similarly, they found a global decrease in productivity.”
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 Behrenfeld et al. (2006)
Behrenfeld et al. suggested that enhanced stratification in a warming context suppresses nutrient exchange and productivity due to reduced vertical mixing.
“These authors suggested that enhanced stratification in a warming context suppresses nutrient exchange and productivity due to reduced vertical mixing.”
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 Behrenfeld et al. (2006)
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- Authors
- Behrenfeld, M. J., O’Malley, R. T., Siegel, D. A., McClain, C. R., Sarmiento, J. L., Feldman, G. C., Milligan, A. J., Falkowski, P. G., Letelier, R. M., & Boss, E. S.
- Affiliations
- Oregon State University (US)
- University of California, Santa Barbara (US)
- Goddard Space Flight Center (US)
- Princeton University (US)
- Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (US)
- University of Maine (US)
- Corresponding author
- Behrenfeld, Michael J.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2006-12
- Volume
- 444
- Issue
- 7120
- Pages
- 752-755
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W2053022429
- Cited by
- 2,485
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 129 · 2025: 156 · 2024: 162 · 2023: 152 · 2022: 165 · 2021: 198 · 2020: 124 · 2019: 121 · 2018: 103 · 2017: 135 · 2016: 132 · 2015: 132 · 2014: 130 · 2013: 139 · 2012: 114
- FWCI
- 48.22
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Goddard Space Flight Center
- 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
- ocean productivity, net primary productivity, phytoplankton, ocean color, SeaWiFS, climate change, ocean warming, ocean stratification, nutrient limitation, marine food webs, carbon cycle, upper ocean temperature, low-latitude ocean
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Carbon Dioxide, Chlorophyll, Climate, Hot Temperature, Oceans and Seas, Photosynthesis, Phytoplankton, Seawater, Greenhouse Effect, Ecosystem, Biomass, Food Chain
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