What is it about?
Global warming may reduce biological productivity in the Subarctic Atlantic Ocean by 50% in 2100. Here, we develop theory and observational constraints to attribute these reductions to changes in nutrient supply: 2/3 to slower nutrient transport from low latitudes, owing to a slower Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, and 1/3 to shallower winter mixed layers in the Subarctic Atlantic Ocean.
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Why is it important?
Marine primary productivity in the Subarctic Atlantic Ocean sustains valuable fisheries, which may be particularly vulnerable to global warming. Our findings suggest that global warming drives down biological productivity in the Subarctic Atlantic Ocean via remote changes in the ocean nutrient circulation more so than via local dynamics. Hence, the relevant planning for adaptation and mitigation depends more strongly on uncertain basin-scale projections of the ocean nutrient circulation than previously appreciated.
Perspectives
In an interesting twist, the remote changes in the Atlantic ocean overturning circulation are physically coupled to the local changes in the upper-ocean physics of the Subarctic Atlantic Ocean. Hence, the marine ecosystem response to global warming reflects an interesting interplay between local and remote ocean and climate physics in the Subarctic Atlantic Ocean.
Daniel Whitt
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This page is a summary of: Slower nutrient stream suppresses Subarctic Atlantic Ocean biological productivity in global warming, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, June 2020, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2000851117.
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