 |
| Titel |
Seasonal and inter-annual variability of plankton chlorophyll and primary production in the Mediterranean Sea: a modelling approach |
| VerfasserIn |
P. Lazzari, C. Solidoro, V. Ibello, S. Salon, A. Teruzzi, K. Béranger, S. Colella, A. Crise |
| Medientyp |
Artikel
|
| Sprache |
Englisch
|
| ISSN |
1726-4170
|
| Digitales Dokument |
URL |
| Erschienen |
In: Biogeosciences ; 9, no. 1 ; Nr. 9, no. 1 (2012-01-11), S.217-233 |
| Datensatznummer |
250006661
|
| Publikation (Nr.) |
 copernicus.org/bg-9-217-2012.pdf |
|
|
|
|
|
| Zusammenfassung |
| This study presents a model of chlorophyll and primary production in the
pelagic Mediterranean Sea. A 3-D-biogeochemical model (OPATM-BFM) was adopted to
explore specific system characteristics and quantify dynamics of key biogeochemical
variables over a 6 yr period, from 1999 to 2004.
We show that, on a basin scale, the Mediterranean Sea is characterised by a
high degree of spatial and temporal variability in terms of primary
production and chlorophyll concentrations. On a spatial scale, important
horizontal and vertical gradients have been observed.
According to the simulations over a 6 yr period, the developed model
correctly simulated the climatological features of deep chlorophyll maxima
and chlorophyll west-east gradients, as well as the seasonal variability in
the main offshore regions that were studied. The integrated net primary
production highlights north-south gradients that differ from surface net
primary production gradients and illustrates the importance of resolving
spatial and temporal variations to calculate basin-wide budgets and their
variability. According to the model, the western Mediterranean, in
particular the Alboran Sea, can be considered mesotrophic, whereas the
eastern Mediterranean is oligotrophic.
During summer stratified period, notable differences between surface net
primary production variability and the corresponding vertically integrated
production rates have been identified,
suggesting that care must be taken when inferring productivity in such
systems from satellite observations alone.
Finally, specific simulations that were designed to explore the role of
external fluxes and light penetration were performed. The subsequent results show
that the effects of atmospheric and terrestrial nutrient loads on the total
integrated net primary production account for less than 5 % of the its annual
value, whereas an increase of 30 % in the light extinction factor impacts
primary production by approximately 10 %. |
| |
|
| Teil von |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|