Climate-Driven Basin-Scale Decadal Oscillations of Oceanic Phytoplankton

Abstract

Untangling the Web Chlorophyll-containing phytoplankton is at the core of the marine food web. Martinez et al. (p. 1253 ) combined satellite data about upper ocean chlorophyll and sea surface temperatures to demonstrate a clear connection between phytoplankton and sea surface temperatures on a multidecadal time scale. Basin-scale ocean dynamic processes such as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation connect the physical, climate-related variability to changes in phytoplankton distribution and amount. Thus, improving the reliability of forecasts of large-scale ocean dynamics may help to improve predictions of changes in ocean community ecology.