Enhanced phytoplankton bloom triggered by atmospheric high-pressure systems over the Northern Arabian Sea.

ABSTRACT: During winter, the dry, cool air brought by prevailing northeasterly trade winds leads to surface ocean heat loss and convective mixing in the northern Arabian Sea. The current paradigm is that the convective mixing process leads to the injection of nutrients up into the surface waters and exert a dominant control on winter productivity. By combining a variety of observations, atmospheric reanalysis and model simulations, we unraveled the processes responsible for the observed year-to-year chlorophyll-a variations in the northern Arabian Sea. Our findings suggest that the atmospheric high-pressure systems that traverse the northern Arabian Sea every winter and spring disrupt winter convective mixing and create an array of environmental conditions conducive to trigger phytoplankton blooms.

SUBMITTER: Thoppil PG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9840610 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature