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Research Article

Amplified Arctic warming by phytoplankton under greenhouse warming

Jong-Yeon Park, Jong-Seong Kug, Jürgen Bader, Rebecca Rolph, and Minho Kwon
PNAS May 12, 2015 112 (19) 5921-5926; first published April 20, 2015; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1416884112
Jong-Yeon Park
aMax Planck Institute for Meteorology, D-20146 Hamburg, Germany;
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Jong-Seong Kug
bSchool of Environmental Science and Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Pohang 790-784, South Korea;
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  • For correspondence: jskug1@gmail.com
Jürgen Bader
aMax Planck Institute for Meteorology, D-20146 Hamburg, Germany;
cUni Climate, Uni Research & Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, NO-5007 Bergen, Norway;
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Rebecca Rolph
aMax Planck Institute for Meteorology, D-20146 Hamburg, Germany;
dSchool of Integrated Climate system sciences, University of Hamburg, D-20146 Hamburg, Germany; and
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Minho Kwon
eKorea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology, Ansan 426-744, South Korea
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  1. Edited by Christopher J. R. Garrett, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada, and approved March 27, 2015 (received for review September 1, 2014)

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Significance

One of the important impacts of marine phytoplankton on climate systems is the geophysical feedback by which chlorophyll and the related pigments in phytoplankton absorb solar radiation and then change sea surface temperature. Yet such biogeophysical impact is still not considered in many climate projections by state-of-the-art climate models, nor is its impact on the future climate quantified. This study shows that, by conducting global warming simulations with and without an active marine ecosystem model, the biogeophysical effect of future phytoplankton changes amplifies Arctic warming by 20%. Given the close linkage between the Arctic and global climate, the biologically enhanced Arctic warming can significantly modify future estimates of global climate change, and therefore it needs to be considered as a possible future scenario.

Abstract

Phytoplankton have attracted increasing attention in climate science due to their impacts on climate systems. A new generation of climate models can now provide estimates of future climate change, considering the biological feedbacks through the development of the coupled physical–ecosystem model. Here we present the geophysical impact of phytoplankton, which is often overlooked in future climate projections. A suite of future warming experiments using a fully coupled ocean−atmosphere model that interacts with a marine ecosystem model reveals that the future phytoplankton change influenced by greenhouse warming can amplify Arctic surface warming considerably. The warming-induced sea ice melting and the corresponding increase in shortwave radiation penetrating into the ocean both result in a longer phytoplankton growing season in the Arctic. In turn, the increase in Arctic phytoplankton warms the ocean surface layer through direct biological heating, triggering additional positive feedbacks in the Arctic, and consequently intensifying the Arctic warming further. Our results establish the presence of marine phytoplankton as an important potential driver of the future Arctic climate changes.

  • biogeophysical feedback
  • phytoplankton−climate interaction
  • Arctic climate changes

Footnotes

  • ↵1To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: jskug1{at}gmail.com.
  • Author contributions: J.-S.K. and M.K. designed research; J.-Y.P. and R.R. performed research; J.-Y.P. analyzed data; and J.-Y.P., J.-S.K., J.B., and R.R. wrote the paper.

  • The authors declare no conflict of interest.

  • This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.

  • This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1416884112/-/DCSupplemental.

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Amplified Arctic warming by phytoplankton
Jong-Yeon Park, Jong-Seong Kug, Jürgen Bader, Rebecca Rolph, Minho Kwon
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences May 2015, 112 (19) 5921-5926; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1416884112

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Amplified Arctic warming by phytoplankton
Jong-Yeon Park, Jong-Seong Kug, Jürgen Bader, Rebecca Rolph, Minho Kwon
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences May 2015, 112 (19) 5921-5926; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1416884112
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