The Agulhas Current is the strongest western boundary current (WBC) in the Southern Hemisphere with a significant impact on the global climate. Through the Agulhas leakage, it transports warm, saline waters into the South Atlantic Ocean. In recent years, a warming trend has been highlighted in the Agulhas Current, with possible implications for dissolved oxygen ([O2]) due to the link between warming

Langmuir circulation (LC) and geostrophic effects are crucial physical processes that affect upper-ocean mixing. This study investigates the impact of LC on ocean mixing with a particular focus on geostrophic effects. By combining feedforward neural network (FNN) and Large Eddy Simulation (LES), this study simulated the interaction between varying intensities of LC and different geostrophic effects

As climate change is already altering ocean temperatures, there is an urgent need to understand how environmental changes will affect marine ecosystems. Although great efforts have been made to understand the impacts of ocean warming, there are still uncertainties regarding effects on lower trophic levels and how these may propagate to higher trophic levels. In this study, physics from three different

Quantification of abundance and food consumption of seabirds are key to understand characteristics and ecological functions of local marine ecosystem due to their abundance and diversity in foraging areas, habitat, behavior, mobility and prey types. This study aimed to quantify seabird abundance in pelagic areas in the eastern Indian sector of the Southern Ocean (80–150E°) based on an at-sea observational

The Kuroshio has been long thought to be disadvantageous as nursery grounds for larval fishes due to the low plankton standing stocks under the oligotrophic conditions. Despite of the potential risk for survival and growth, early life stages of various fishes appear abundantly in the Kuroshio and its neighboring waters. Here, we report what kind of taxonomic groups establish community structure of

Ocean warming can affect plankton both directly, through altered metabolic activities, and indirectly, modifying the physical–chemical properties of the water column, with possible effects on ecosystem functioning. To evaluate the combined action of warming-related physiological responses and environmental changes on plankton assemblage functioning, we carried out a long-term analysis (from 1994 to

Euphausiids (krill) are globally significant zooplankton prey for many commercially important or endangered predator species. In the productive upwelling system of the Northern California Current (NCC), two krill species, Euphausia pacifica and Thysanoessa spinifera, dominate the preyscape and constitute an important food resource for many seabirds, cetaceans, and fish. In this study, we use five years

The skin of the ocean is often slightly cooler than the surface mixed layer due to net surface heat loss (cool skin effect), and sometimes slightly warmer in areas with extreme solar radiation (warm layer effect). In previous work (Yang et al., 2022), with the skin temperature correction term (ΔT) derived from the fifth generation European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis (ERA5)

The biologically productive Northern Gulf of Alaska (NGA) continental shelf receives large inputs of freshwater from surrounding glaciated and non-glaciated watersheds, and a better characterization of the regional salinity spatiotemporal variability is important for understanding its fate and ecological roles. We here assess synoptic to seasonal distributions of freshwater pathways of the Copper River

Wind-driven equatorial Kelvin, Rossby, and Yanai waves are known to propagate vertically, as well as zonally, and packets of them can form “beams” that descend into the deep ocean along ray paths consistent with wave-group theory. Here, we obtain analytic solutions to a simplified ocean model that provide a more complete description of beam properties and dynamics than in previous studies.

Global warming affects marine ecosystems by changing environmental conditions, ecosystem structure, and ecosystem functioning. In parts of the Arctic, increased sea temperature and decreased sea ice have led to a poleward expansion of boreal species and increased their interactions with native Arctic species. To investigate and quantify the changing interactions in an Arctic marine food web under new

Across the Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) continental shelf, sub-surface temperatures remain below 0°C throughout the summer, when the surface is much warmer. This oceanographic feature is known as a cold intermediate layer (CIL), and its properties are assessed annually in the region to support ocean climate research and fisheries management. Monitoring in this region is either too infrequent or too

Large amounts of freshwater and nutrients pass through the Bering Strait to the Arctic Ocean, making the Bering Sea a crucial marginal sea of the North Pacific Ocean. The hydrography and biological production of the Bering Sea are strongly influenced by the amount of sea ice produced and melted. The sea ice extent and production exhibited large interannual variability but no visible trend until 2016

The deep sea, Earth’s largest biome, harbors numerous unknown species. Prior to the AleutBio (Aleutian Trench Biodiversity Studies) expedition from July to September 2022, the Northeast (NE) Pacific at abyssal and hadal depths was virtually unexplored. Our study presents new findings from the AleutBio project on the macrofaunal composition of the Bering Sea (BS) and Aleutian Trench (AT) collected by

Phytoplankton responses to typhoons are pivotal for understanding the impact of climate change on marine biodiversity and productivity, yet current literature, focusing on typhoon-induced biomass increases from nutrient dynamics, might overlook the complexity of plume-upwelling interactions during such events. This study, therefore, examines the sequential impact of Typhoons Bailu and Podul on phytoplankton

Phytoplankton elemental composition regulates the efficiency of energy and material transfer in the interface between phytoplankton and their consumers. The ratio of particulate organic carbon to particulate organic nitrogen (POC:PON) shows considerable regional deviations from the canonical Redfield ratio in the global surface ocean. However, in certain oceanic regions such as the northwest Pacific

Micronekton are the mid-trophic level of the ecosystem and contribute to active carbon export to the deep ocean through diel vertical migrations. Better characterization of micronekton functional groups depending on relationships to environmental variables is useful for the management of marine resources, the conservation of biodiversity and a better understanding of climate change impacts. For this

Absract: Dissolved black carbon (DBC) can be transported from land to the ocean, representing a significant slow-cycling component in the global carbon cycle. However, the source, distribution, and degradation of DBC in the ocean are not well understood. In this study, water samples were collected from the East China Sea (ECS) shelf to the Northwest Pacific Ocean. The benzene polycarboxylic acid (BPCA)

The Barents Sea is a hotspot for environmental change due to global warming. These changes impact the structure and functioning of the marine ecosystem year-round, and it is therefore important to gain knowledge on trophic relationships and the energy flow from primary producers, i.e., ice algae (sympagic algae) and phytoplankton (pelagic algae) to consumers over the entire seasonal cycle. By using

Mesozooplankton are a crucial link between primary producers and higher trophic levels and play a vital role in marine food webs, biological carbon pumps, and sustaining fishery resources. However, the global distribution of mesozooplankton biomass and the relevant controlling mechanisms remain elusive. We compared four machine learning algorithms (Boosted Regression Trees, Random Forest, Artificial

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are crucial for conserving marine biodiversity, and assessing the effectiveness of boundaries in protecting marine species is essential. In the Southwest Atlantic Ocean, four MPAs have been created. In this study we evaluate the use of these MPAs by Southern Rockhopper Penguins (Eudyptes chrysocome) that nest at Isla de los Estados, Argentina during the pre-molt period

The Amundsen Sea Polynya (ASP) is the most biologically productive area around Antarctica due to the input of iron-rich glacial meltwater (GMW). However, the source and path of GMW in the ASP, and how these have changed since the Dotson Ice Shelf (DIS), a primary GMW supplier, began experiencing a cooling period after 2011, remain unclear. This study presents the distribution of GMW in the ASP during

The proliferation of Sargassum in the Tropical Atlantic has occurred almost every year since 2011, but a strong variability of biomass is observed among years. Essential knowledge about the drivers of Sargassum growth and decay is still lacking to explain this interannual variability. Benefiting from accurate basin scale Sargassum detections provided by remote sensing, and from physical and biogeochemical

The seasonal to interannual variability of eddy kinetic energy (EKE) in the Northeastern South China Sea (NE-SCS) has been widely studied and it is recognized that they are strongly related to the state of the Kuroshio pathway in the Luzon Strait. While, due to the lack of long-term observations and high-resolution simulations, the decadal change of EKE in NE-SCS remains unexplored. In this study,

This study examined particulate organic carbon (POC) and its isotopic composition (δ13CPOC) in the Cosmonaut and Cooperation Seas in the Antarctica during the summer of 2019. Our results show that the spatial variation of POC concentration in summer surface water generally mirrors that of δ13CPOC, with higher POC and δ13CPOC values in the Cosmonaut Sea compared to the Cooperation Sea. The δ13CPOC values

Atmosphere and ocean dynamics and their projections for the 21st century are assessed in the Eastern Tropical Pacific, using an ensemble of 17 models from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project – CMIP6, under two radiative scenarios. Projections in the Panama Bight (PB) and Equatorial Pacific cold tongue (CT) are studied in more detail. In the 2071–2100 period and SSP5-8.5 scenario, referenced to

The Norwegian and Barents Seas host large commercial fish populations that interact with each other, as well as marine mammal populations that feed on plankton and fish. Quantifying the past dynamics of these interacting species, and of the associated fisheries in the Norwegian and Barents Sea is of high relevance to support ecosystem-based management. The purpose of this work is to develop a food-web

Food-web structure determines the cycling pathways and fate of new production in marine ecosystems. Herbivorous zooplankton populations are usually seasonally coupled with pelagic primary producers. Synchrony of phytoplankton blooms with reproduction, recruitment and seasonal ascent of their main grazers ensures efficient transfer of organic carbon to higher trophic levels, including commercially harvested

The Southern Ocean is facing rapid environmental changes. However, few studies have been conducted on the spatiotemporal variability of mesozooplankton communities under recent climatic conditions, particularly in the eastern Indian sector. This study describes the spatiotemporal variability of the mesozooplankton community and the demographics of large copepods and krill in this sector, sampled through

Commercially important fish spend their vulnerable early life stages in the Kuroshio Current, resulting in high fishery production even in the vicinity of poor prey availability under oligotrophic conditions. Nevertheless, little information is available on how ichthyoplankton are supported by trophodynamics in complicated food webs. Here, we have explored trophic sources and pathways toward ichthyoplankton

Marine ecosystems associated with mid-oceanic elevations harbour unique pelagic and benthic biodiversity and sustain food webs critical for Nature’s contributions to people (NCP). The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the Convention on the Law of the Sea recognize the need to implement ecosystem-based management approaches to conserve the structure and functioning of oceanic and deep-sea

The Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology developed the Korea Operational Oceanographic System-Ocean Predictability Experiment for Marine Environment (KOOS-OPEM), a high-resolution (1/24°, 51 vertical levels) ocean prediction model for the Northwest Pacific Ocean that incorporates ensemble optimal interpolation. In this study, we present KOOS-OPEM ReAnalysis version 2022 (K-ORA22), which

The interannual variations of eddy kinetic energy (EKE) in the western equatorial Pacific Ocean are investigated based on satellite observations and model outputs in this study. Results reveal that the EKE exhibits vigorous interannual variations, especially in the region of North Equatorial Countercurrent (NECC) and north of New Guinea, and the variations differ between the two types of El Niño events

We use altimeter-derived geostrophic velocities, with and without the addition of surface Ekman transports, to create trajectories for virtual parcels in the California Current System (CCS). The goal is to investigate the poleward transport of passive water parcels in the surface 50–100 m of the nominally equatorward system. Motivation for the study is provided by observations of anomalous biomass

Crinoid beds of Leptometra phalangium (Müller, 1841) have been identified as sensitive habitats by the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) due to their high vulnerability to bottom trawl fisheries. Poorly resilient to physical damage, L. phalangium has been listed as a potential indicator of Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs) in the Mediterranean Sea. If fishing activities represent

Summertime upwelling system off the southern Vietnamese coast is one of the most essential oceanographic features in the South China Sea. This system is divided into two regions along the coast, the Southern Coastal Upwelling (SCU; south of 12.5°N) and Northern Coastal Upwelling (NCU; north of 12.5°N), and one in the offshore area, the Offshore Upwelling (OU; east of 110°E). Utilizing the HYCOM ocean

Deep-sea ecosystems are particularly important to the cycling of matter and energy in the oceans and therefore in regulating Earth’s climate. The Atlantic Ocean is already experiencing significant abiotic changes, with expected warmer temperatures coupled with decreased particulate organic carbon (POC) export flux. However, there is yet a large gap in our understanding of warming impacts on deep benthic

The biological pumping of carbon in the ocean and its effects on ocean carbon sequestration are being studied by researchers from several disciplines. These studies address the biological carbon pump (also called organic, soft-tissue, or biogeochemical carbon pump), the carbonate pump (or counter-pump) and the microbial carbon pump, which are most often treated separately. In the present study, the

The Borderland Basins off Southern California are semi-isolated sea-floor depressions with connections to each other and to the open Pacific Ocean over narrow sills. A high-resolution, multi-year simulation is analyzed for its currents, stratification, and dissolved oxygen, with a focus on the mean conditions, intrinsic variability, and exchange rates with surrounding waters. The three shallowest,

The microbial plankton community is an integral part of the pelagic ecosystem. It hosts essential functional groups that play a vital role in organic carbon production, release, uptake, and degradation within open-ocean ecosystems. Given its significance, carbon biomass estimates are urgently needed, especially in oligotrophic regions, to provide and enhance our knowledge of biogenic carbon pools.

The basin-wide phytoplankton succession and community behaviour in response to varying nutrient patterns during various upwelling phases are detailed, for the first time, in the eastern Arabian Sea (EAS, ∼6◦ to 22◦N) during the summer monsoon (SM) of 2018. Three consecutive observations were carried out during early SM (June-July), peak SM (August), and late SM (September-October), representing different

Ecosystem functioning, i.e. the transfer of material through a system, supports the ecosystem services deep-sea sediments provide, including carbon sequestration, nutrient regeneration, and climate regulation. To date, seven studies globally have researched in situ how various benthic groups contribute to organic matter degradation in abyssal sediments through stable isotope tracer experiments, of

Trophic links between the epipelagic (< 200 m) and mesopelagic layers of the Indian Ocean were investigated by carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios of 2405 samples collected from 2002 to 2016, and that encompass the base of trophic webs, and primary, secondary and tertiary consumers. The samples include particulate organic matter, gastropods, gelatinous organisms such as salps and pyrosomes, crustaceans

Calanus hyperboreus is a large-bodied, biomass dominant species that performs a crucial ecosystem energy transfer by converting the spring phytoplankton bloom into lipid reserves that fuel the higher trophic levels of the Gulf of St. Lawrence (GSL) pelagic ecosystem, including the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale (Eubalena glacialis). Given that the GSL, the southernmost core habitat

Mapping stable isotope gradients (isoscapes) has become a powerful tool to understand and forecast the status and variability of marine ecosystems at different levels of ecological organization. To differentiate five marine areas from the Southwest Atlantic Ocean towards oceanic and polar waters, a key foraging area for many marine consumers, we built isoscapes at different spatial scales using carbon

The Antarctic seasonal sea-ice zone (SIZ) is one of the most extensive and dynamic habitats on Earth. In summer, increased insolation and ice melt cause primary production to peak, sustaining large populations of locally-breeding seabirds. Due to their hypermobility, large Procellariiformes, including albatrosses, breeding in the subantarctic also have the potential to access the SIZ and track macroscale

As part of the Korea Arctic Mooring System (KAMS), sequential sediment traps were deployed at KAMS1 over the East Siberian Sea slope (∼115 and ∼335 m) and at KAMS2 over the Chukchi Sea slope (325 m) to collect sinking particles from August 2017 to August 2019. Fecal pellet carbon (FPC) fluxes and their contribution to the particulate organic carbon (POC) fluxes were measured to assess the role of zooplankton

Phytoplankton phenology describes yearly algal growth cycles and characterises the timing, duration, and magnitude of bloom occurrences. This study used satellite chlorophyll-a data from 1998 to 2020 and the Hierarchical Agglomerative Clustering method to define phenoregions based on phytoplankton phenology spatial patterns over the British Columbia and Southeast Alaska coastal oceans. The defined

Large pelagic crustaceans are a main component of the micronekton community in the deep-sea having an important role in the food webs and the biological carbon pump. However, they are scarcely studied in comparison to other groups such as mesopelagic fish. Here, we analyse day/night and bathymetric variability in taxonomic composition, abundance, and biomass across a latitudinal transect in the Atlantic

Climatic fluctuations have been documented to strongly affect Arctic marine ecosystems. Plankton assemblages serve as the most sensitive indicators of such environmental forcing. We conducted a study to investigate the spatial variability of chlorophyll (Chl-a) concentration during two pre-bloom periods (March–April 2021 and February–March 2022) in relation to the distribution of different water masses

Tracking the processes of the spread of Fukushima-derived Cs (Cs) contributes to a better understanding of North Pacific water dynamics. In this study, the vertical distributions of Cs and Sr in the Kuroshio-Oyashio confluence region were investigated in May 2018, and Cs was separated from the background Cs by exploiting the constant global fallout Cs/Sr ratio. To the north of 35°N, Cs peaked in the

Baffin Bay is an Arctic marginal sea connected to the North Atlantic via Davis Strait and the Labrador Sea. While the exchange of heat and freshwater through Davis Strait is known to strongly influence the subpolar North Atlantic, there are significant gaps in our understanding of the circulation and water mass distribution and transformation throughout Baffin Bay, in part due to limited direct velocity

Shallow seamounts are becoming increasingly recognised as key habitats for conservation due to their role as biological refuges, particularly throughout oligotrophic oceans. Traditionally, Taylor caps have been invoked as the mechanism driving biomass aggregation over seamounts but emerging evidence based on higher resolution measurements highlights the importance of internal waves (IW) to the local

Phytoplankton communities and production in Arctic fjords undergo strong seasonal variations. Phytoplankton blooms are periods with high primary production, leading to elevated algal biomass fueling higher trophic levels. Blooms are typically driven bottom-up by light and nutrient availability but may also be top-down controlled by grazing. While phytoplankton spring blooms are common across all Arctic

Submarine canyons act as hotspots of biodiversity, hosting vulnerable marine ecosystems, and playing a fundamental role in bridging coastal zones with deeper areas. Here, we investigated the suprabenthic and Deep Scattering Layer (DSL) zooplankton fauna, that play a key role in deep-sea food webs, as main resources for both mobile and sessile megafauna, in two submarine canyons (Squillace and Amendolara)

The subarctic Pacific is generally perceived as relatively homogeneous since the North Pacific Subpolar Gyre dominates the water circulation in the area. However, previous research showed significant spatial differences in phytoplankton abundance and community structure. This study aimed to identify regions associated with distinct phytoplankton phenology and composition to comprehensively describe

The twilight zone remineralization (TZR) consumes over 70% of organic carbon exported from the sunlit ocean, significantly affecting oceanic carbon sequestration and atmospheric CO concentration. Despite the well-established importance, the quantification of TZR remains challenging, as reflected by conspicuous methodological discrepancy and the unsolved imbalance between carbon supply from the upper

The ocean sustains ecosystems that are essential for human livelihood and habitability of the planet. The ocean holds an enormous amount of carbon, and serves as a critical source of nutrition for human societies worldwide. Climate variability and change impact marine biogeochemistry and ecosystems. Thus, having state-of-the-art simulations of the ocean, which include marine biogeochemistry and ecosystems

Understanding how future ocean conditions will impact early life stages and population recruitment of fishes is critical for adapting fisheries communities to climate change. In this study, we incorporated projected changes in physical and biological ecosystem dynamics from an oceanographic model into a mechanistic individual-based model for larval and juvenile stages of the Pacific cod () in the eastern

The diverse microbial community in the ocean, encompassing various metabolic types, interacts with the wide array of compounds in the dissolved organic matter (DOM) pool, thereby influencing the ocean’s biogeochemical state and, consequently, the global climate. Our understanding of the interactions between specific DOM constituents and microbial consortia remains limited, necessitating further refinement