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Physically modulated phytoplankton production and export at submesoscales in the oligotrophic South China Sea Basin

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Abstract

Oceanic submesoscales can significantly influence phytoplankton production and export owing to their similar timescales of days. Based on two-year Biogeochemical Argo (BGC-Argo) observations, this study investigated the development of submesoscale instabilities, particularly symmetric and mixed-layer baroclinic instabilities, and their impacts on biological production and export in the oligotrophic South China Sea basin. In the northern basin, near-surface winter blooms consistently cooccurred with seasonally deepened mixed layers. However, significantly stronger and weaker winter blooms were observed over two consecutive winters within the BGC-Argo observation period. During the first winter, symmetric-instability-induced upward nutrient entrainment played a crucial role in initiating the strong winter bloom in early December, when the mixed layer was approximately 20–30 m shallower than the nutricline. This bloom occurred approximately 20–30 days earlier than that anticipated owing to the contact between the seasonally deepened mixed layer and mesoscale-cyclone-induced uplifted nutricline. The symmetric instability also facilitated the export of fixed phytoplankton carbon from the surface to deeper layers. Conversely, during the second winter, remarkably intense mixed-layer baroclinic instability associated with an intense mesoscale anticyclone led to more significant shoaling of the mixed layer compared to the nutricline, thus increasing the vertical distance between the two layers. Under this condition, upward nutrient injection, phytoplankton bloom, and carbon export were suppressed. In contrast, the BGC-Argo float in the central basin revealed significantly inhibited seasonality of phytoplankton biomass and submesoscale instabilities compared to those in the northern basin, primarily owing to the significantly shallower winter mixed layer.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions that helped to improve the manuscript. This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2022YFA1004404), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. U22A20579, 42306006 & 41876004).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, **amen University, **amen, 361102, China

    Zhonghua Zhao, Mengdi Xu, Bangqin Huang & Yuwu Jiang

  2. College of Ocean and Earth Sciences, **amen University, **amen, 361102, China

    Zhonghua Zhao, Mengdi Xu & Yuwu Jiang

  3. Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory for Coastal Ecology and Environmental Studies, **amen University, **amen, 361102, China

    Bangqin Huang

  4. National Observation and Research Station for the Taiwan Strait Marine Ecosystem, **amen University, **amen, 361102, China

    Bangqin Huang & Yuwu Jiang

  5. School of Marine Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Zhuhai, 519000, China

    Wenfang Lu

  6. Laboratory of Ocean and Coast Geology, Third Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, **amen, 361005, China

    Hongshuai Qi & Feng Cai

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  1. Zhonghua Zhao
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Correspondence to Feng Cai or Yuwu Jiang.

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Zhao, Z., Xu, M., Huang, B. et al. Physically modulated phytoplankton production and export at submesoscales in the oligotrophic South China Sea Basin. Sci. China Earth Sci. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-023-1362-1

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