Strengthened ocean-desert process in the North Pacific over the past two decades

Meng, Siyu, Gong, Xun, Yu, Yang, Yao, Xiaohong, Gong, Xiang, Lu, Keyu, Zhang, Chao, Shi, Jie, Yu, Xiaojie and Gao, Huiwang (2021) Strengthened ocean-desert process in the North Pacific over the past two decades. Environmental Research Letters, 16 (2). ISSN 1748-9326

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Abstract

North Pacific ocean desert (NPOD) refers to the subtropical North Pacific Ocean of low chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentrations, as the largest ocean desert globally. Studies have suggested a development of NPOD over recent decades based on limited evidences from in-field measurements and yet elusive mechanism. In this study, we characterize intensity, area and position of the NPOD from year 1998 to 2018, and investigate its control by the coherent climate processes, based on an available, longest satellite observations of Chl-a concentration. Our results suggested that NPOD oligotrophication and expansion processes were correlated with warming upper oceans in most part of the NPOD, except for the SW NPOD area where the Chl-a variations were linked with regional change in sea surface heights. Moreover, based on our analysis, insignificant shift but only NW-SE variability of the NPOD mean position was likely controlled by the Pacific decadal oscillation processes.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Acknowledgments: This work is funded by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (41876125), the NSFC-Shandong Joint Fund (U1606404, U1906215) and Chinese Minister of Science and Technology Fund (2019YFE0125000). We thank all of the scientists who collected the oceanographic data used in this study. Data availability statement: All data that support the findings of this study are included within the article (and any supplementary files).
Uncontrolled Keywords:	north pacific ocean desert,chlorophyll-a,ocean vertical structure,climate change,sea surface height,sdg 13 - climate action ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/climate_action
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	27 May 2022 16:30
Last Modified:	23 Oct 2022 03:46
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/85195
DOI:	10.1088/1748-9326/abd96f

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