Persistent equatorial Pacific iron limitation under ENSO forcing.

ABSTRACT: Projected responses of ocean net primary productivity to climate change are highly uncertain¹. Models suggest that the climate sensitivity of phytoplankton nutrient limitation in the low-latitude Pacific Ocean plays a crucial role^1-3, but this is poorly constrained by observations⁴. Here we show that changes in physical forcing drove coherent fluctuations in the strength of equatorial Pacific iron limitation through multiple El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycles, but that this was overestimated twofold by a state-of-the-art climate model. Our assessment was enabled by first using a combination of field nutrient-addition experiments, proteomics and above-water hyperspectral radiometry to show that phytoplankton physiological responses to iron limitation

SUBMITTER: Browning TJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10499608 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature