2020 |
Daniel, A., et al. "Toward a Harmonization for Using in situ Nutrient Sensors in the Marine Environment." Front. Mar. Sci.. 6 (2020).
Résumé: Improved comparability of nutrient concentrations in seawater is required to enhance the quality and utility of measurements reported to global databases. Significant progress has been made over recent decades in improving the analysis and data quality for traditional laboratory measurements of nutrients. Similar efforts are required to establish high-quality data outputs from in situ nutrient sensors, which are rapidly becoming integral components of ocean observing systems. This paper suggests using the good practices routine established for laboratory reference methods to propose a harmonized set of deployment protocols and of quality control procedures for nutrient measurements obtained from in situ sensors. These procedures are intended to establish a framework to standardize the technical and analytical controls carried out on the three main types of in situ nutrient sensors currently available (wet chemical analyzers, ultraviolet optical sensors, electrochemical sensors) for their deployments on all kinds of platform. The routine reference controls that can be applied to the sensors are listed for each step of sensor use: initial qualification under controlled conditions in the laboratory, preparation of the sensor before deployment, field deployment and finally the sensor recovery. The fundamental principles applied to the laboratory reference method are then reviewed in terms of the calibration protocol, instrumental interferences, environmental interferences, external controls, and method performance assessment. Data corrections (linearity, sensitivity, drifts, interferences and outliers) are finally identified along with the concepts and calculations for qualification for both real time and time delayed data. This paper emphasizes the necessity of future collaborations between research groups, reference-accredited laboratories, and technology developers, to maintain comparability of the concentrations reported for the various nutrient parameters measured by in situ sensors.
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Lebrato, M., et al. "Global variability in seawater Mg:Ca and Sr:Ca ratios in the modern ocean." Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A.. 117.36 (2020): 22281–22292.
Résumé: Seawater Mg:Ca and Sr:Ca ratios are biogeochemical parameters reflecting the Earth-ocean-atmosphere dynamic exchange of elements. The ratios' dependence on the environment and organisms' biology facilitates their application in marine sciences. Here, we present a measured single-laboratory dataset, combined with previous data, to test the assumption of limited seawater Mg:Ca and Sr:Ca variability across marine environments globally. High variability was found in open-ocean upwelling and polar regions, shelves/neritic and river-influenced areas, where seawater Mg:Ca and Sr:Ca ratios range from similar to 4.40 to 6.40 mmol:mol and similar to 6.95 to 9.80 mmol:mol, respectively. Open-ocean seawater Mg:Ca is semi-conservative (similar to 4.90 to 5.30 mol:mol), while Sr:Ca is more variable and nonconservative (similar to 7.70 to 8.80 mmol:mol); both ratios are nonconservative in coastal seas. Further, the Ca, Mg, and Sr elemental fluxes are connected to large total alkalinity deviations from International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Oceans (IAPSO) standard values. Because there is significant modern seawater Mg:Ca and Sr:Ca ratios variability across marine environments we cannot absolutely assume that fossil archives using taxa-specific proxies reflect true global seawater chemistry but rather taxa- and process-specific ecosystem variations, reflecting regional conditions. This variability could reconcile secular seawater Mg:Ca and Sr:Ca ratio reconstructions using different taxa and techniques by assuming an error of 1 to 1.50 mol:mol, and 1 to 1.90 mmol:mol, respectively. The modern ratios' variability is similar to the reconstructed rise over 20 Ma (Neogene Period), nurturing the question of semi-nonconservative behavior of Ca, Mg, and Sr over modern Earth geological history with an overlooked environmental effect.
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Pagès, R., et al. "Projected effects of climate-induced changes in hydrodynamics on the biogeochemistry of the Mediterranean sea under the RCP 8.5 Regional Climate Scenario." Front. Mar. Sci.. 7 (2020).
Résumé: The Mediterranean region has been shown to be particularly exposed to climate change, with observed trends that are more pronounced than the global tendency. In forecast studies based on a RCP 8.5 scenario, there seems to be a consensus that, along with an increase in temperature and salinity over the next century, a reduction in the intensity of deep-water formation and a shallowing of the mixed layer (especially in the North-Western Mediterranean Sea (MS)) are expected. By contrast, only a few studies have investigated the effects of climate change on the biogeochemistry of the MS using a 3D physical/biogeochemical model. In this study, our aim was to explore the impact of the variations in hydrodynamic forcing induced by climate change on the biogeochemistry of the MS over the next century. For this purpose, high-resolution simulations under the RCP 8.5 emission scenario have been run using the regional climate system model CNRM-RCSM4 including the NEMO-MED8 marine component, coupled (off-line) with the biogeochemical model Eco3M-Med. The results of this scenario first highlight that most of the changes in the biogeochemistry of the MS will occur (under the RCP 8.5 scenario) after 2050. They suggest that the MS will become increasingly oligotrophic, and therefore less and less productive (14 % decrease in integrated primary production in the Western Basin and in the Eastern Basin). Significant changes would also occur in the planktonic food web, with a reduction (22 % in the Western Basin and 38 % in the Eastern Basin) of large phytoplankton species abundance in favour of small organisms. Organisms will also be more and more N-limited in the future since NO3 concentrations are expected to decline more than those of PO4 in the surface layer. All these changes would mainly concern the Western Basin, while the Eastern Basin would be less impacted.
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Pagès, R., et al. "Changes in rivers inputs during the last decades significantly impacted the biogeochemistry of the eastern Mediterranean basin: A modelling study." Prog. Oceanogr.. 181 (2020): 102242.
Résumé: The Mediterranean Sea (MS) is a semi-enclosed sea characterized by a zonal west-east gradient of oligotrophy, where microbial growth is controlled by phosphate availability in most situations. External inputs of nutrients including Gibraltar inputs, river inputs and atmospheric deposition are therefore of major importance for the biogeochemistry of the MS. The latter has long been considered to be driven mainly by nutrient exchanges at Gibraltar. However, recent studies indicate that river inputs significantly affect nutrients concentrations in the Mediterranean Sea, although their resulting impact on its biogeochemistry remains poorly understood. In this study, our aim was to help fill this knowledge gap by addressing the large-scale and long-term impact of variations in river inputs on the biogeochemistry of the Mediterranean Sea over the last decades, using a coupled physical-biogeochemical 3D model (NEMO-MED12/Eco3M-Med). As a first result, it has been shown by the model that the strong diminution (60%) of phosphate (PO4) in river inputs into the Mediterranean Sea since the end of the 1980s induced a significant lowering of PO4 availability in the sub-surface layer of the Eastern Mediterranean Basin (EMB). One of the main consequences of PO4 diminution is the rise, never previously documented, of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations in the surface layer (by 20% on average over the EMB). Another main result concerns the gradual deepening of the top of the phosphacline during the period studied, thus generating a shift between the top of the nitracline and the top of the phosphacline in the EMB. This shift has already been observed in situ and documented in literature, but we propose here a new explanation for its occurrence in the EMB. The last main result is the evidence of the decline in abundance and the reduction of size of copepods calculated by the model over the years 1985-2010, that could partially explain the reduction in size of anchovy and sardine recently recorded in the MS. In this study, it is shown for the first time that the variations in river inputs that occurred in the last decades may have significantly altered the biogeochemical cycles of two key elements (P and C), in particular in the EMB. To conclude, the magnitude of the biogeochemical changes induced by river inputs and runoff alone over the last thirty years clearly calls for the use of realistic scenarios of river inputs along with climate scenarios for coupled physical-biogeochemical forecasts in the MS.
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2019 |
Pagès, R., et al. "Changes in rivers inputs during the last decades significantly impacted the biogeochemistry of the eastern Mediterranean basin: a modelling study." Progress in Oceanography (2019): 102242.
Résumé: The Mediterranean Sea (MS) is a semi-enclosed sea characterized by a zonal west-east gradient of oligotrophy, where microbial growth is controlled by phosphate availability in most situations. External inputs of nutrients including Gibraltar inputs, river inputs and atmospheric deposition are therefore of major importance for the biogeochemistry of the MS. This has long been considered to be driven mainly by nutrient exchanges at Gibraltar. However, recent studies indicate that river inputs significantly affect nutrients concentrations in the Mediterranean Sea, although their resulting impact on its biogeochemistry remains poorly understood. In this study, our aim was to make good this lack by addressing the large-scale and long-term impact of variations in river inputs on the biogeochemistry of the Mediterranean Sea over the last decades, using a coupled physical-biogeochemical 3D model (NEMO-MED12/Eco3M-Med). As a first result, it has been shown by the model that the strong diminution (60 %) of phosphate (PO4) in river inputs into the Mediterranean Sea since the end of the 1980s induced a significant lowering of PO4 availability in the sub-surface layer of the Eastern Mediterranean Basin (EMB). One of the main consequences of PO4 diminution is the rise, never previously documented, of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations in the surface layer (by 20% on average over the EMB). Another main result concerns the gradual deepening of the top of the phosphacline during the period studied, thus generating a shift between the top of the nitracline and the top of the phosphacline in the EMB. This shift has already been observed in situ and documented in literature, but we propose here a new explanation for its occurrence in the EMB. The last main result is the evidence of the decline in abundance and the reduction of size of copepods calculated by the model over the years 1985-2010, that could partially explain the reduction in size of anchovy and sardine recently recorded in the MS. In this study, it is shown for the first time that the variations in river inputs that occurred in the last decades may have significantly altered the biogeochemical cycles of two key elements (P and C), in particular in the EMB. To conclude, the magnitude of the biogeochemical changes induced by river inputs and runoff alone over the last thirty years clearly calls for the use of realistic scenarios of river inputs along with climate scenarios for coupled physical-biogeochemical forecasts in the MS.
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2018 |
Aumont, O., et al. "Evaluating the Potential Impacts of the Diurnal Vertical Migration by Marine Organisms on Marine Biogeochemistry." Global Biogeochemical Cycles. 32.11 (2018): 1622–1643.
Résumé: Diurnal vertical migration (DVM) of marine organisms is an ubiquitous phenomenon in the ocean that generates an active vertical transport of organic matter. However, the magnitude and consequences of this flux are largely unknown and are currently overlooked in ocean biogeochemical models. Here we present a global model of pelagic ecosystems based on the ocean biogeochemical model NEMO-PISCES that is fully coupled to the upper trophic levels model Apex Predators ECOSystem Model, which includes an explicit description of migrating organisms. Evaluation of the model behavior proved to be challenging due to the scarcity of suitable observations. Nevertheless, the model appears to be able to simulate approximately both the migration depth and the relative biomass of migrating organisms. About one third of the epipelagic biomass is predicted to perform DVM. The flux of carbon driven by DVM is estimated to be 1.05 ± 0.15 PgC/year, about 18% of the passive flux of carbon due to sinking particles at 150 m. Comparison with local studies suggests that the model captures the correct magnitude of this flux. Oxygen is decreased in the mesopelagic domain by about 5 mmol?m?3 relative to simulations of an ocean without DVM. Our study concludes that DVM drives a significant and very efficient flux of carbon to the mesopelagic domain, similar in magnitude to the transport of DOC. Relative to a model run without DVM, the consequences of this flux seem to be quite modest on oxygen, due to compensating effects between DVM and passive fluxes.
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Ayata, S. - D., et al. "Regionalisation of the Mediterranean basin, a MERMEX synthesis." Progress in Oceanography. 163 (2018): 7–20.
Résumé: Regionalisation aims at delimiting provinces within which physical conditions, chemical properties, and biological communities are reasonably homogeneous. This article proposes a synthesis of the many recent regionalisations of the open-sea regions of the Mediterranean Sea. The nine studies considered here defined regions based on different, and sometimes complementary, criteria: dynamics of surface chlorophyll concentration, ocean currents, three-dimensional hydrological and biogeochemical properties, or the distribution of organisms. Although they identified different numbers and patterns of homogeneous regions, their compilation in the epipelagic zone identifies nine consensus frontiers, eleven consensus regions with relatively homogeneous conditions, and four heterogeneous regions with highly dynamical conditions. The consensus frontiers and regions are in agreement with well-known hydrodynamical features of the Mediterranean Sea, which constrain the distribution of hydrological and ecological variables. The heterogeneous regions are rather defined by intense mesoscale activity. The synthesis proposed here could constitute a reference step for management actions and spatial planning, such as the application of the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive, and for future biogeochemical and ecological studies in the Mediterranean Sea.
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2013 |
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Halo, I., et al. "JEAI-MOCAs : a multi-institutional initiative to build marine research capacity in Mozambique." South African Journal of Science. 109.7-8 (2013).
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2010 |
Faure, V., et al. "Modelling the spatial and temporal variability of the SW lagoon of New Caledonia II: Realistic 3D simulations compared with in situ data." Marine Pollution Bulletin. 61.7–12 (2010): 480–502.
Résumé: Coral reef lagoons are under the growing influence of anthropogenic activities, leading to increasing loads of nutrients and various contaminants. Modelling approaches are a useful tool for studying such a complex coastal environment. In this study, we carried out the development of a three-dimensional coupled hydrodynamical-biogeochemical model of the south-west lagoon of New Caledonia. The biogeochemical model presented in Faure et al. (2006, 2010) was dynamically coupled with a hydrodynamical model (MARS3D) in order to study the short-term variability of the ecosystem. Two simulations (in winter and summer) were then performed from measured initial conditions using realistic wind and irradiance conditions and river inputs. Examinations of the biogeochemical response to these transient meteorological conditions were presented and compared with temporal field data corresponding to the considered periods. Results highlighted the ecosystem functioning, based on the balance of hydrodynamical and biogeochemical processes. Influence of urban and terrigeneous inputs were limited to the coastal zone. The model accurately reproduced the measured Chl.a and bacterial production, highlighting the improvement made on the biogeochemical model. However, the underestimation of some variables in model outputs, in particular nutrients, led us to focus on different inputs, such as sediment inputs which were not taken into account or properly estimated. Moreover, the role of boundary waters appeared crucial and suggested a calibration effort. Last, the final aim of our modelling study will help the development of a useful tool for studying the key processes of the ecosystem of the south-west lagoon of New Caledonia, as well as the examination of the biogeochemical response under different scenarios.
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