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Cited by 12Marine and coastal ecosystemsOceanographic and Atmospheric ProcessesClimate variability and models

Strengthened ocean-desert process in the North Pacific over the past two decades

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Meng, Siyu, Gong, Xun, Yu, Yang, Yao, Xiaohong, Gong, Xiang, Lu, Keyu, Zhang, Chao, Shi, Jie +2 more·2021·Environmental Research Letters
DOI 10.1088/1748-9326/abd96f
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Abstract

North Pacific ocean desert (NPOD) refers to the subtropical North Pacific Ocean of low chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentrations, as the largest ocean desert globally. Studies have suggested a development of NPOD over recent decades based on limited evidences from in-field measurements and yet elusive mechanism. In this study, we characterize intensity, area and position of the NPOD from year 1998 to 2018, and investigate its control by the coherent climate processes, based on an available, longest satellite observations of Chl-a concentration. Our results suggested that NPOD oligotrophication and expansion processes were correlated with warming upper oceans in most part of the NPOD, except for the SW NPOD area where the Chl-a variations were linked with regional change in sea surface heights. Moreover, based on our analysis, insignificant shift but only NW-SE variability of the NPOD mean position was likely controlled by the Pacific decadal oscillation processes.

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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 Meng et al., 2021

    Section 3.1 reports that the North Pacific ocean desert expanded from 1998 to 2018 at an average rate of 0.9% per year. It does not report an accelerating expansion rate, and its result concerns the North Pacific rather than subtropical gyres generally. The faster and slower periods discussed in that section refer to oligotrophication, not expansion. (LLM, conf=0.87)

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Sorted by citations

Authors
Meng, S., Gong, X., Yu, Y., Yao, X., Gong, X., Lu, K., Zhang, C., Shi, J., Yu, X., & Gao, H.
Affiliations
  • Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (CN)
  • Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung (DE)
  • Ocean University of China (CN)
Corresponding author
  • Gong, Xun
  • Gong, Xiang
  • Gao, Huiwang
ORCID
Venue
Environmental Research Letters
Publisher
IOP Publishing
Published
2021-02-01
Volume
16
Issue
2
Pages
024034
ISSN
1748-9326 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1088/1748-9326/abd96f
OpenAlex
W3120731601
Cited by
12
References
1
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 4 · 2021: 2
FWCI
0.84
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Environmental Research Letters (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • UEA Digital Repository (University of East Anglia) (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • National Nature Science Foundation of China (41876125)
  • NSFC-Shandong Joint Fund (U1606404)
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 › Global and Planetary Change › Climate variability and models
Keywords
chlorophyll a, oligotrophication, ocean warming, sea surface height, Pacific Decadal Oscillation, satellite remote sensing, subtropical North Pacific, ocean biogeochemistry

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