摘要
Phytoplankton blooms,particularly in the Southern Ocean,can have significant impact on global biogeochemistry cycling.To investigate the accuracy of chlorophyll-a distribution,and to better understand the spatial and temporal dynamics of phytoplankton biomass,we examine chlorophyll-a estimates(October-March from 2002 to 2012)derived from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer(MODIS)data following the ocean chlorophyll-a 3 model(OC3M)algorithm.Noticeable seasonality occurs in the temporal distribution of chlorophyll-a concentrations,which shows the highest value in December and January and an increasing tendency during the 2002-2012 period.The spatial distribution of chlorophyll-a varies greatly with latitude,as higher latitudes experience more phytoplankton blooms(chlorophyll-a concentration larger than 1 mg/m3)and marginal seas(Ross Sea and Amundsen Sea)show different bloom anomalies caused by two dominant algae species.Areas at higher latitudes and shallow water(<500 m)experience the shorter icefree periods with greater seasonality.A noticeable bathymetry gradient exists at 2500-m isobaths,while water at the 500-2500-m depth experiences quite long ice-free periods with a stable water environment.Blooms generally occur near topographic features where currents have strong interactions when the water depth is more than 2500 m.Based on these findings,we can classify the Southern Ocean into two bloom subregions,0-500 m as an enhanced bloom zone(EBZ),and 500-2500 m as a moderate bloom zone(MBZ).The EBZ has a quite high-bloom probability of about 30%,while the MBZ has only 10%.
