POSTER Session 1

Assessment of Climate Change Impacts on Phytoplankton Distribution in the Arctic Ocean

Climate change directly affects the phytoplankton community in the global ocean. The Arctic Ocean is highly sensitive to recent climate change, and elevated warming levels cause a decreased sea ice extent and alter the prevailing conditions for phytoplankton abundance, distribution, and dynamics. The time series analysis of satellite-based parameters is crucial for our understanding of climate change impacts on the phytoplankton community in the Arctic Ocean. In the current study, ocean heat content (OHC) and sea ice volume (SIV) are used as climate change indicators along with the chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentration over the period 2000-2019. Satellite-based estimates of OHC were produced from the artificial neural networks models developed by Vijay and Shanmugam (2022; under review), SIV by multiplying sea ice concentration (NOAA/NSIDC) and thickness (NOAA/APP-X), and Chl-a from the Ocean-Colour Climate Change Initiative products. The time series analysis (mean values per unit area) showed persistent ocean warming (+0.016 GJ m-2 per year) and sea ice melting (-0.026 m3 per year) with an increasing trend of 0.007 mg m-3 per year in Chl-a concentration. The Chl-a products (mg m-3 per year) showed distinct trends throughout the Arctic Ocean sub-basins (Nansen -0.032, Canada -0.005, and Chl-a data is not available for Amundsen and Makarov basins), marginal seas (Barents 0.015, Kara -0.03, Laptev 0.006, Siberian 0.023, Chukchi 0.036, Beaufort -0.008, and Greenland 0.008), and bays (Baffin and Hudson 0.01) due to the response of phytoplankton communities to climate change conditions.

*Vijay Prakash Kondeti, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8531-0208

Shanmugam Palanisamy, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India

Code of Conduct
Privacy Policy