Distribution and Trends of Coccolithophore Concentration in the Oceans
using Satellite-derived Particulate Inorganic Carbon
Abstract
Particulate inorganic carbon (PIC) indicates CaCO3, which is produced
biologically and constitutes about a quarter of total marine sediments.
It is produced by coral reefs, foraminifera, coccolithophores and some
macrophytic algae (Balch et al., 2005). The dominating calcifiers in the
oceans are the coccolithophores, producing roughly half of the global
ocean carbonates. They also cover 20 % of the blooming phytoplankton
(Krumhardt et al., 2017). An algorithm has been developed to estimate
the PIC concentrations from satellites. The data is collected by MODIS
Aqua and SeaWiFS. Observational studies show mixed results for
coccolithophore abundance as both increase/decrease in various places.
However, it can be agreed that anthropogenic climate change has a
significant impact on the PIC, mainly due to global warming and ocean
acidification.