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Phytoplankton Chlorophyll trends in the Arctic (1998-2022) at the local, regional, and pan-Arctic scales
  • Camila Serra,
  • Camila Serra-Pompei,
  • Stephanie Dutkiewicz
Camila Serra

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

Author Profile
Camila Serra-Pompei
Center for Climate Change Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, National Institute for Aquatic Resources, Technical University of Denmark
Stephanie Dutkiewicz
Center for Climate Change Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Abstract

We analyzed the temporal trends (1998-2022) of surface phytoplankton Chlorophyll (Chl) concentration in the Arctic at the local, regional, and pan-Arctic scales. We used four empirically-derived Chl satellite ocean color products: two global merged products and two MODIS products, one calibrated to the Arctic. At the local level, between 10-40% of the area with valid pixels showed statistically significant Chl trends, with ~2/3 of those pixels showing increases, and the other third indicating a decrease. At the regional level, only the Barents and Chukchi Seas had consistent Chl increases across products. At the pan-Arctic level, most products showed Chl increases in the months of July and September (0.3-0.9% Chl year-1), even after removing the effect of new open water pixels. Overall, Chl is changing in the Arctic, although trends vary threefold depending on the product and spatial-averaging assumptions used.
12 Nov 2024Submitted to ESS Open Archive
13 Nov 2024Published in ESS Open Archive