Abstract
Using time series of hydrographic data in the wintertime and summertime obtained along 137°E from 1971 to 2000, we found that the average contents of nutrients in the surface mixed layer showed linear decreasing trends of 0.001∼0.004 μmol-PO4 l−1 yr−1 and 0.01∼0.04 μmol-NO3 l−1 yr−1 with the decrease of density. The water column Chl-a (CHL) and the net community production (NCP) had also declined by 0.27∼0.48 mg-Chl m−2 yr−1 and 0.08∼0.47 g-C-NCP m−2 yr−1 with a clear oscillation of 20.8±0.8 years. These changes showed a strong negative correlation with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation Index (PDO) with a time lag of 2 years (R = 0.89 ± 0.02). Considering the recent significant decrease of O2 over the North Pacific subsurface water, these findings suggest that the long-term decreasing trend of surface-deep water mixing has caused the decrease of marine biological activity in the surface mixed layer with a bidecadal oscillation over the western North Pacific.
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Watanabe, Y.W., Ishida, H., Nakano, T. et al. Spatiotemporal Decreases of Nutrients and Chlorophyll-a in the Surface Mixed Layer of the Western North Pacific from 1971 to 2000. J Oceanogr 61, 1011–1016 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10872-006-0017-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10872-006-0017-y