Transient overturning changes cause an upper-ocean nutrient decline in a warming climate.

ABSTRACT: Models and proxy data suggest multi-centennial nutrient reorganization and biological productivity changes under sustained climate warming. These changes have traditionally been attributed to processes in the Southern Ocean. Here we instead show that transient overturning circulation adjustments, associated with changes in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), dominate the global nutrient reorganization on centennial timescales. Following an AMOC weakening, a typical feature of a warming climate, a transient overturning circulation develops in the Indo-Pacific basins, characterized by enhanced southward transport in the deep ocean. Coupled with the vertical nutrient structure, these transient overturning changes produce a net transport of nutrients from the Indo-Pacific i

SUBMITTER: Sun S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11375078 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature