Climate-driven oscillation of phosphorus and iron limitation in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre

Ricardo M. Letelier; Karin M. Björkman; Matthew J. Church; Douglas S. Hamilton; Natalie M. Mahowald; Rachel A. Scanza; Niklas Schneider; Angelicque E. White; David M. Karl

doi:10.1073/pnas.1900789116

Climate-driven oscillation of phosphorus and iron limitation in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre

Ricardo M. Letelier, Karin M. Björkman, Matthew J. Church, Douglas S. Hamilton, Natalie M. Mahowald, Rachel A. Scanza, Niklas Schneider, Angelicque E. White, David M. Karl

Flathead Lake Biological Station

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

56 Scopus citations

Abstract

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 (P_i) sufficiency and limitation, when P_i 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 P_i 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.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	12720-12728
Number of pages	9
Journal	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume	116
Issue number	26
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1900789116
State	Published - 2019

Funding

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. This research was funded by the NSF (HOT, OCE-1260164; Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education, EF-0424599), the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation’s Marine Microbiology Initiative (D.M.K.; Grant 3794), the Simons Foundation (Simons Collaboration on Ocean Processes and Ecology Award 329108; D.M.K., A.E.W., and M.J.C.), and the Balzan Foundation (D.M.K.). N.S. was supported by NSF Grant OCE-1357015 and by the Japan Agency for Marine–Earth Science and Technology and International Pacific Research Center Joint Initiative. N.M.M., R.A.S., and D.S.H. acknowledge support from the DOE (DE-SC0006791 and DESC0006735), the NSF (AGS-1049033), and high-performance computing from Yellowstone (ark:/85065/d7wd3xhc) provided by the National Center for Atmospheric Research’s Computational and Information Systems Laboratory, supported by the NSF. We are indebted to the research staff, as well as to the captains and crews of the various research vessels involved in supporting the HOT effort.

Funders	Funder number
Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology
EF-0424599, OCE-1260164
DE-SC0006791, DESC0006735, AGS-1049033, ark:/85065/d7wd3xhc
Simons Foundation	329108
3794
National Center for Atmospheric Research
OCE-1357015

Keywords

Atmospheric iron deposition
Climate
Pacific Decadal Oscillation
Pelagic ecosystem
Phosphorus limitation

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1073/pnas.1900789116

Cite this

Letelier, R. M., Björkman, K. M., Church, M. J., Hamilton, D. S., Mahowald, N. M., Scanza, R. A., Schneider, N., White, A. E., & Karl, D. M. (2019). Climate-driven oscillation of phosphorus and iron limitation in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 116(26), 12720-12728. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1900789116

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title = "Climate-driven oscillation of phosphorus and iron limitation in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre",

abstract = "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.",

keywords = "Atmospheric iron deposition, Climate, Pacific Decadal Oscillation, Pelagic ecosystem, Phosphorus limitation",

author = "Letelier, \{Ricardo M.\} and Bj{\"o}rkman, \{Karin M.\} and Church, \{Matthew J.\} and Hamilton, \{Douglas S.\} and Mahowald, \{Natalie M.\} and Scanza, \{Rachel A.\} and Niklas Schneider and White, \{Angelicque E.\} and Karl, \{David M.\}",

year = "2019",

doi = "10.1073/pnas.1900789116",

language = "English",

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journal = "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America",

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Letelier, RM, Björkman, KM, Church, MJ, Hamilton, DS, Mahowald, NM, Scanza, RA, Schneider, N, White, AE & Karl, DM 2019, 'Climate-driven oscillation of phosphorus and iron limitation in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 116, no. 26, pp. 12720-12728. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1900789116

TY - JOUR

T1 - Climate-driven oscillation of phosphorus and iron limitation in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre

AU - Letelier, Ricardo M.

AU - Björkman, Karin M.

AU - Church, Matthew J.

AU - Hamilton, Douglas S.

AU - Mahowald, Natalie M.

AU - Scanza, Rachel A.

AU - Schneider, Niklas

AU - White, Angelicque E.

AU - Karl, David M.

PY - 2019

Y1 - 2019

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - Atmospheric iron deposition

KW - Climate

KW - Pacific Decadal Oscillation

KW - Pelagic ecosystem

KW - Phosphorus limitation

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85068179348

U2 - 10.1073/pnas.1900789116

DO - 10.1073/pnas.1900789116

M3 - Article

C2 - 31182581

AN - SCOPUS:85068179348

SN - 0027-8424

VL - 116

SP - 12720

EP - 12728

JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

IS - 26

ER -

Climate-driven oscillation of phosphorus and iron limitation in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

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