Deep Chlorophyll Maxima in the Global Ocean: Occurrences, Drivers and Characteristics.

Stratified oceanic systems are characterized by the presence of a so-called Deep Chlorophyll a Maximum (DCM) not detectable by ocean color satellites. A DCM can either be a phytoplankton (carbon) biomass maximum (Deep Biomass Maximum, DBM), or the consequence of photoacclimation processes (Deep photoAcclimation Maximum, DAM) resulting in the increase of chlorophyll a per phytoplankton carbon. Even though these DCM (further qualified as either DBMs or DAMs) have long been studied, no global-scale assessment has yet been undertaken and large knowledge gaps still remain in relation to the environmental drivers responsible for their formation and maintenance. In order to investigate their spatial and temporal variability in the open ocean, we use a global data set acquired by more than 500 Biogeochemical-Argo floats given that DCMs can be detected from the comparative vertical distribution of chlorophyll a concentrations and particulate backscattering coefficients. Our findings show that the seasonal dynamics of the DCMs are clearly region-dependent. High-latitude environments are characterized by a low occurrence of intense DBMs, restricted to summer. Meanwhile, oligotrophic regions host permanent DAMs, occasionally replaced by DBMs in summer, while subequatorial waters are characterized by permanent DBMs benefiting from favorable conditions in terms of both light and nutrients. Overall, the appearance and depth of DCMs are primarily driven by light attenuation in the upper layer. Our present assessment of DCM occurrence and of environmental conditions prevailing in their development lay the basis for a better understanding and quantification of their role in carbon budgets (primary production and export).

Detection of Coccolithophore Blooms With BioGeoChemical-Argo Floats.

Coccolithophores (calcifying phytoplankton) form extensive blooms in temperate and subpolar oceans as evidenced from ocean-color satellites. This study examines the potential to detect coccolithophore blooms with BioGeoChemical-Argo (BGC-Argo) floats, autonomous ocean profilers equipped with bio-optical and physicochemical sensors. We first matched float data to ocean-color satellite data of calcite concentration to select floats that sampled coccolithophore blooms. We identified two floats in the Southern Ocean, which measured the particulate beam attenuation coefficient (c p) in addition to two core BGC-Argo variables, Chlorophyll-a concentration ([Chl-a]) and the particle backscattering coefficient (b bp). We show that coccolithophore blooms can be identified from floats by distinctively high values of (1) the b bp/c p ratio, a proxy for the refractive index of suspended particles, and (2) the b bp/[Chl-a] ratio, measurable by any BGC-Argo float. The latter thus paves the way to global investigations of environmental control of coccolithophore blooms and their role in carbon export.

Author Correction: Floats with bio-optical sensors reveal what processes trigger the North Atlantic bloom.

In the original version of this Article, the data accession https://doi.org/10.17882/42182 was omitted from the Data Availability statement.In the first paragraph of the Methods subsection entitled 'Float data processing', the WET Labs ECO-triplet fluorometer was incorrectly referred to as 'WETLabs ECO PUK'. In the final paragraph of this subsection, the WET Labs ECO-series fluorometer was incorrectly referred to as 'WETLabs 413 ECO-series'.In the Methods subsection 'Float estimates of phytoplankton carbon biomass', the average particulate organic carbon-bbp ratio of 37,537 mgC m-2 was incorrectly given as 37,357 mgC m-2.In the second paragraph of the Methods subsection 'Float estimates of population division rates', the symbol for Celsius (C) was omitted from the phrase 'a 10°C increase in temperature'.These errors have now been corrected in the PDF and HTML versions of the Article.

Floats with bio-optical sensors reveal what processes trigger the North Atlantic bloom.

The North Atlantic bloom corresponds to a strong seasonal increase in phytoplankton that produces organic carbon through photosynthesis. It is still debated what physical and biological conditions trigger the bloom, because comprehensive time series of the vertical distribution of phytoplankton biomass are lacking. Vertical profiles from nine floats that sampled the waters of the North Atlantic every few days for a couple of years reveal that phytoplankton populations start growing in early winter at very weak rates. A proper bloom with rapidly accelerating population growth rates instead starts only in spring when atmospheric cooling subsides and the mixed layer rapidly shoals. While the weak accumulation of phytoplankton in winter is crucial to maintaining a viable population, the spring bloom dominates the overall seasonal production of organic carbon.

Nitrogen deprivation strongly affects photosystem II but not phycoerythrin level in the divinyl-chlorophyll b-containing cyanobacterium Prochlorococcus marinus.

Effects of nitrogen limitation on Photosystem II (PSII) activities and on phycoerythrin were studied in batch cultures of the marine oxyphotobacterium Prochlorococcus marinus. Dramatic decreases in photochemical quantum yields (F(V)/F(M)), the amplitude of thermoluminescence (TL) B-band, and the rate of Q(A) reoxidation were observed within 12 h of growth in nitrogen-limited conditions. The decline in F(V)/F(M) paralleled changes in the TL B-band amplitude, indicative of losses in PSII activities and formation of non-functional PSII centers. These changes were accompanied by a continuous reduction in D1 protein content. In contrast, nitrogen deprivation did not cause any significant reduction in phycoerythrin content. Our results refute phycoerythrin as a nitrogen storage complex in Prochlorococcus. Regulation of phycoerythrin gene expression in Prochlorococcus is different from that in typical phycobilisome-containing cyanobacteria and eukaryotic algae investigated so far.

Diversity and abundance of Bolidophyceae (Heterokonta) in two oceanic regions.

The diversity and abundance of the Bolidophyceae (Heterokonta), a newly described picoplanktonic algal class which is a sister group to the diatoms, was assessed in the equatorial Pacific Ocean and in the Mediterranean Sea by culture isolation, molecular biology techniques, and pigment analyses. Eight strains of Bolidophyceae were isolated in culture from different mesotrophic and oligotrophic areas. The corresponding small subunit (SSU) rRNA gene sequences allowed us to design two probes specific for the Bolidophyceae. These probes have been used in natural samples (i) to selectively amplify and detect Bolidophyceae sequences and (ii) to quantify the relative abundance of Bolidophyceae within the picoeukaryote community. Sequences available to date indicate that the class Bolidophyceae comprises at least three different clades, two corresponding to the previously described species Bolidomonas pacifica and Bolidomonas mediterranea and the third one corresponding to a subspecies of B. pacifica. Amplification of the SSU rRNA gene from natural samples with universal primers and hybridization using a Bolidomonas-specific probe followed by a eukaryote-specific probe allowed us to estimate the contribution of the Bolidophyceae to the eukaryotic DNA in both Pacific and Mediterranean waters to be lower than 1%. Similarly, high-performance liquid chromatography analyses of fucoxanthin, the major carotenoid present in Bolidophyceae, indicated that less than 4% of the total chlorophyll a in the picoplanktonic fraction in the equatorial Pacific was due to Bolidophyceae. Consequently, although strains of Bolidophyceae have been isolated from samples collected at several stations, this new class seems to have been a minor component of the natural picoeukaryotic populations in the ecosystems investigated, at least during the periods sampled.