Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 116, Issue 26, Pages 12720-12728Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1900789116
Keywords
pelagic ecosystem; phosphorus limitation; atmospheric iron deposition; Pacific Decadal Oscillation; climate
Categories
Funding
- NSF (HOT) [OCE-1260164]
- NSF (Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education) [EF-0424599]
- Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation's Marine Microbiology Initiative [3794]
- Simons Foundation (Simons Collaboration on Ocean Processes and Ecology Award) [329108]
- Balzan Foundation
- NSF [OCE-1357015, AGS-1049033]
- Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology
- International Pacific Research Center Joint Initiative
- DOE [DE-SC0006791, DE-SC0006735]
- U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) [DE-SC0006791, DE-SC0006735] Funding Source: U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
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The supply of nutrients is a fundamental regulator of ocean productivity and carbon sequestration. Nutrient sources, sinks, residence times, and elemental ratios vary over broad scales, including those resulting from climate-driven changes in upper water column stratification, advection, and the deposition of atmospheric dust. These changes can alter the proximate elemental control of ecosystem productivity with cascading ecological effects and impacts on carbon sequestration. Here, we report multi-decadal observations revealing that the ecosystem in the eastern region of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre (NPSG) oscillates on subdecadal scales between inorganic phosphorus (Pi) sufficiency and limitation, when Pi concentration in surface waters decreases below 50-60 nmol.kg(-1). In situ observations and model simulations suggest that sea-level pressure changes over the northwest Pacific may induce basin-scale variations in the atmospheric transport and deposition of Asian dust-associated iron (Fe), causing the eastern portion of the NPSG ecosystem to shift between states of Fe and Pi limitation. Our results highlight the critical need to include both atmospheric and ocean circulation variability when modeling the response of open ocean pelagic ecosystems under future climate change scenarios.
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