Pelagic primary production in the coastal Mediterranean Sea: variability, trends, and contribution to basin-scale budgets

[摘要] We estimated pelagic primary production (PP) in thecoastal ( 300   g C m −2 ) associated with major riverdischarges to less productive provinces ( <50   g C m −2 ) locatedin the southeastern Mediterranean. PP variability in the Mediterranean Seais dominated by interannual variations, but a notable basin-scale decline (17 %) has been observed since 2012 concurring with a period of increasing seasurface temperatures in the Mediterranean Sea and positive North AtlanticOscillation and Mediterranean Oscillation climate indices. Long-term trendsin PP reveal slight declines in most coastal areas ( −0.05 to −0.1   g C m −2 per decade) except in the Adriatic where PP increases at +0.1   g C m −2 per decade. Regionalization of coastal waters based on PP seasonalpatterns reveals the importance of river effluents in determining PP incoastal waters that can regionally increase up to 5-fold. Our studyprovides insight into the contribution of coastal waters to basin-scale carbonbalances in the Mediterranean Sea while highlighting the importance of thedifferent temporal and spatial scales of variability.

[学科分类] 大气科学