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Preprint: Reviews and syntheses: Abrupt ocean biogeochemical change under human-made climatic forcing – warming, acidification, and deoxygenation

Abstract.

"Abrupt changes in ocean biogeochemical variables occur as a result of human-induced climate forcing as well as those which are more gradual and occur over longer timescales. These abrupt changes have not yet been identified and quantified to the same extent as the more gradual ones. We review and synthesise abrupt changes in ocean biogeochemistry under human-induced climatic forcing. We specifically address the ocean carbon and oxygen cycles because the related processes of acidification and deoxygenation provide important ecosystem hazards. [...]".

 

Source: Biogeosciences
Authors: Christoph Heinze et al.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2023-182

Read the full article here.


Highly active fish in low oxygen environments: vertical movements and behavioural responses of bigeye and yellowfin tunas to oxygen minimum zones...

Full title: "Highly active fish in low oxygen environments: vertical movements and behavioural responses of bigeye and yellowfin tunas to oxygen minimum zones in the eastern Pacific Ocean"

Abstract.

"Oxygen minimum zones in the open ocean are predicted to significantly increase in volume over the coming decades as a result of anthropogenic climatic warming. The resulting reduction in dissolved oxygen (DO) in the pelagic realm is likely to have detrimental impacts on water-breathing organisms, particularly those with higher metabolic rates, such as billfish, tunas, and sharks. [...]".

 

Source: Springer Nature 
Authors: Nicolas E. Humphries et al.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-023-04366-2

Read the full article here.


Early detection of anthropogenic climate change signals in the ocean interior

Abstract. 

"Robust detection of anthropogenic climate change is crucial to: (i) improve our understanding of Earth system responses to external forcing, (ii) reduce uncertainty in future climate projections, and (iii) develop efficient mitigation and adaptation plans. Here, we use Earth system model projections to establish the detection timescales of anthropogenic signals in the global ocean through analyzing temperature, salinity, oxygen, and pH evolution from surface to 2000 m depths. For most variables, anthropogenic changes emerge earlier in the interior ocean than at the surface, due to the lower background variability at depth. [...]".

 

Source: Nature 
Authors: Jerry F. Tjiputra et al.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-30159-0

Read the full article here.


Editorial: Regional coastal deoxygenation and related ecological and biogeochemical modifications in a warming climate

Abstract. 

"Coastal ecosystems play tremendous roles in socio-economic development, but their functions are degrading due to human activities. One of the most alarming degradations is coastal deoxygenation, driven primarily by the over-enrichment of anthropogenic nutrients and organic matter (eutrophication) in the coastal waters. The coastal deoxygenation has led to the worldwide spread of hypoxic zones (where dissolved oxygen concentration is less than 2 mg/L), with the number of reported hypoxic sites increasing from 45 in the 1960s to around 700 nowadays. Besides being perturbed by human activities locally, coastal waters respond more rapidly than [...]".

 

Source: Frontiers 
Authors: Wenxia Zhang et al.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1146877

Read the full article here.


Offshore wind farms are projected to impact primary production and bottom water deoxygenation in the North Sea

Abstract. 

"The wind wake effect of offshore wind farms affects the hydrodynamical conditions in the ocean, which has been hypothesized to impact marine primary production. So far only little is known about the ecosystem response to wind wakes under the premisses of large offshore wind farm clusters. Here we show, via numerical modeling, that the associated wind wakes in the North Sea provoke large-scale changes in annual primary production with local changes of up to ±10% not only at the offshore wind farm clusters, but also distributed over a wider region. [...]".

 

Source: Nature
Authors: Ute Daewel et al.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-022-00625-0 

Read the full article here.


Recovery from microplastic-induced marine deoxygenation may take centuries

Abstract.

"Climate change and plastics pollution are dual threats to marine environments. Here we use biogeochemical and microplastic modelling to show that even if there is complete removal of microplastics and cessation of deposition in the oceans in 2022, regional recovery from microplastic-induced remineralization and water column deoxygenation could take hundreds of years for coastal upwelling zones, the North Pacific and Southern Ocean. [...]".

 

Source: Nature
Authors: Karin Kvale & Andreas Oschlies
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-01096-w 

Read the full article here.


Competing and accelerating effects of anthropogenic nutrient inputs on climate-driven changes in ocean carbon and oxygen cycles

Abstract. 

"Nutrient inputs from the atmosphere and rivers to the ocean are increased substantially by human activities. However, the effects of increased nutrient inputs are not included in the widely used CMIP5 Earth system models, which introduce bias into model simulations of ocean biogeochemistry. Here, using historical simulations by an Earth system model with perturbed atmospheric and riverine nutrient inputs, we show that the contribution of anthropogenic nutrient inputs to past global changes in ocean biogeochemistry is of similar magnitude to the effect of climate change. [...]". 

 

Source: Science Advances
Authors: Akitomo Yamamoto et al. 
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abl9207

Read the full article here.


Ocean Carbon Uptake Under Aggressive Emission Mitigation

Abstract.

"Nearly every nation has signed the UNFCC Paris Agreement, committing to mitigate global anthropogenic carbon (Cant) emissions and limit global mean temperature increase to 1.5 °C. A consequence of emission mitigation is reduced efficiency of ocean Cant uptake, which is driven by mechanisms that have not been studied in detail. The historical pattern of continual increase in atmospheric CO2 has resulted in a proportional increase in Cant uptake. [...]"

Source: Biogeosciences
Authors: Sean Ridge and Galen McKinley
DOI: 10.5194/bg-2020-254

Read the full article here.


Monitoring ocean biogeochemistry with autonomous platforms

Abstract.

"Human activities have altered the state of the ocean, leading to warming, acidification and deoxygenation. These changes impact ocean biogeochemistry and influence ecosystem functions and ocean health. The long-term global effects of these changes are difficult to predict using current satellite sensing and traditional in situ observation techniques. [...]"

Source: Nature Reviews Earth & Environment
Authors: Fei Chai et al.
DOI: 10.1038/s43017-020-0053-y

Read the full article here.


Dissolved oxygen and pH criteria leave fisheries at risk

Abstract.

"Changes in human population centers and agricultural fertilizer use have accelerated delivery rates of nitrogen and phosphorus to coastal waters, often stimulating rapid accumulations of primary production (1). Whereas resulting eutrophication processes are of less environmental relevance in well-mixed, ocean ecosystems, when they occur in warm, stratified, and/or poorly mixed waters, they can result in hypoxia [depletion of dissolved oxygen (DO)] and acidification (decrease in pH), both of which individually can have adverse effects on aquatic life, affecting a suite of physiological processes and increasing mortality rates (23). [...]"

Source: Science
Authors: Stephen J. Tomasetti, Christopher J. Gobler
DOI: 10.1126/science.aba4896

Read the full article here.


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