Articles | Volume 22, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-22-3521-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-22-3521-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
02 Nov 2026
Research article |
| 02 Nov 2026
| 02 Nov 2026
Spatial patterns in phytoplankton community composition and their relationship to carbon export on the northwest Weddell Sea continental shelf
Meredith G. Meyer
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Centre for Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK
Robert J. W. Brewin
Centre for Geography and Environmental Science, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn, UK
Xuerong Sun
Centre for Geography and Environmental Science, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn, UK
Clara Manno
British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK
Florence Atherden
British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK
Sasha J. Kramer
Department of Earth & Environment, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
Giorgio Dall'Olmo
Sezione di Oceanografia, Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale, Trieste, Italy
Karen J. Heywood
Centre for Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK
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Robert J. W. Brewin, Bethany Wilkinson, Xuerong Sun, Giorgio Dall'Olmo, Gavin H. Tilstone, Katharine R. Hendry, Sarah Breimann, Ian Brown, Angus Atkinson, Katrin Schmidt, Elisabetta Canuti, Meredith G. Meyer, Qi Zheng, Johannes J. Viljoen, Tom Bell, and Karen J. Heywood
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-4398, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-4398, 2026
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Phytoplankton are the foundation of the Antarctic food web. Their size affects carbon storage in the ocean and energy transfer to krill, fish, and whales. Because the northwestern Weddell Sea is rarely sampled, little is known about phytoplankton size there. Using ship-based measurements and satellite data, we found medium-sized phytoplankton dominate rather than the smallest types that dominate warmer oceans. This provides a baseline for tracking ecosystem responses to climate change.
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Florence Atherden, Emily Rowlands, Gareth Flint, Sophie Fielding, Katrin Schmidt, Elaine Fileman, Maren Richter, Bethany Wilkinson, Angus Atkinson, and Clara Manno
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Salem Ibrahim Salem, Andre Valente, Shubha Sathyendranath, Andrei Chuprin, Théo Renard, Jaime Pitarch, Ruth Airs, Moreno Ana, Maria-Manuel Angelico, David Antoine, Robert Arnone, Florinda Artuso, Paulo O. Oliveira, William Balch, Kathryn Barker, Ray Barlow, Simon Bélanger, Marco Bellacicco, Jean-François Berthon, Şükrü Beşiktepe, Francesco Bignami, Yngve Borsheim, Astrid Bracher, Federica Braga, Vittorio Brando, Robert J. W. Brewin, Vanda Brotas, Elisabetta Canuti, Francisco P. Chavez, Andrés Cianca, Hervé Claustre, Lesley Clementson, Simone Colella, Raul Costa, Cristina Nunes, Richard Crout, Emmanuel Devred, Annalisa Di Cicco, Federico Falcini, Ivan Farace, Afonso Ferreira, Scott Freeman, Robert Frouin, Carlos García-Soto, Isabella Giardina, Stuart W. Gibb, Arthur Gleason, Ralf Goericke, Richard Gould, Michael Grant, Nathalie Guillocheau, Hiroto Higa, Stanford B. Hooker, Chuamin Hu, Joji Ishizaka, Thomas Jackson, Mati Kahru, Milton Kampel, Bokyung Kim, Holger Klein, Piotr Kowalczuk, Susanne Kratzer, Raphael Kudela, Antonia Lai, Rosario Lavezza, Jesus Ledesma, Huiwon Lee, Steven Lohrenz, Hubert Loisel, Vivian Lutz, Antonio Mannino, Francesca Margiotta, Victor Martinez-Vicente, Salvatore Marullo, Luca Massi, Patricia Matrai, Atsushi Matsuoka, David McKee, Chiara Melillo, Carlos B. Mendes, Brian G. Mitchell, Tiffany Moisan, Enrique Montes, Frank Muller-Karger, Aimee Neeley, Michael Novak, Leonie O'Dowd, Michael Ondrusek, Emanuele Organelli, Heeyoon Park, Trevor Platt, Francesca Polonelli, Alex Poulton, Mariella Ragni, Michel Repecaud, Maurizio Ribera d’Alcalà, Tamara Rodriguez-Ramos, Rüdiger Röttgers, Manuel Ruiz-Villarreal, Michela Sammartino, Rosalia Santoleri, Gian Marco Scarpa, Thomas Schroeder, Valeria Segura, Timothy Smyth, Denise Smythe-Wright, Heidi M. Sosik, Joanna Stoń-Egiert, Malcolm Taberner, Jing Tan, Rob Thomas, Crystal Thomas, Gavin Tilstone, Andreia Tracana, Michael Twardowski, Vincenzo Vellucci, Gianluca Volpe, Kenneth Voss, Jeremy Werdell, Marcel Wernand, Bozena Wojtasiewicz, Simon Wright, Sunmi Yang, Giuseppe Zibordi, Maria Laura Zoffoli, and Steve Groom
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Shenjie Zhou, Pierre Dutrieux, Claudia F. Giulivi, Adrian Jenkins, Alessandro Silvano, Christopher Auckland, E. Povl Abrahamsen, Michael Meredith, Irena Vaňková, Keith Nicholls, Peter E. D. Davis, Svein Østerhus, Arnold L. Gordon, Christopher J. Zappa, Tiago S. Dotto, Ted Scambos, Kathryn L. Gunn, Stephen R. Rintoul, Shigeru Aoki, Craig Stevens, Chengyan Liu, Sukyoung Yun, Tae-Wan Kim, Won Sang Lee, Markus Janout, Tore Hattermann, Julius Lauber, Elin Darelius, Anna Wåhlin, Leo Middleton, Pasquale Castagno, Giorgio Budillon, Karen J. Heywood, Jennifer Graham, Stephen Dye, Daisuke Hirano, and Una Kim Miller
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Meredith G. Meyer, Esther Portela, Walker O. Smith Jr., and Karen J. Heywood
Ocean Sci., 21, 1223–1236, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-1223-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-1223-2025, 2025
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During the annual phytoplankton bloom, rates of primary production and carbon export in the Ross Sea, Antarctica, are uncoupled from each other and from oxygen and carbon stocks. These biogeochemical rates support the high-productivity, low-export classification of the region and suggest that environmental factors influence these stocks and rates differently and make projections under future climate change scenarios difficult.
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We present a compilation of water optical properties and phytoplankton pigments from the surface of the Atlantic Ocean collected during nine cruises between 2009 and 2019. We derive continuous Chlorophyll a concentrations (a biomass proxy) from water absorption. We then illustrate geographical variations and relationships for water optical properties, Chlorophyll a, and other pigments. The dataset will be useful to researchers in ocean optics, remote sensing, ecology, and biogeochemistry.
Yuan Zhang, Fang Shen, Renhu Li, Mengyu Li, Zhaoxin Li, Songyu Chen, and Xuerong Sun
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 4793–4816, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-4793-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-4793-2024, 2024
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This work describes AIGD-PFT, the first AI-driven global daily gap-free 4 km phytoplankton functional type (PFT) product from 1998 to 2023. AIGD-PFT enhances the accuracy and spatiotemporal coverage quantification of eight major PFTs (i.e. diatoms, dinoflagellates, haptophytes, pelagophytes, cryptophytes, green algae, prokaryotes, and Prochlorococcus).
Ria Oelerich, Karen J. Heywood, Gillian M. Damerell, Marcel du Plessis, Louise C. Biddle, and Sebastiaan Swart
Ocean Sci., 19, 1465–1482, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-19-1465-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-19-1465-2023, 2023
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At the southern boundary of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, relatively warm waters encounter the colder waters surrounding Antarctica. Observations from underwater vehicles and altimetry show that medium-sized cold-core eddies influence the southern boundary's barrier properties by strengthening the slopes of constant density lines across it and amplifying its associated jet. As a result, the ability of exchanging properties, such as heat, across the southern boundary is reduced.
Anna Belcher, Sian F. Henley, Katharine Hendry, Marianne Wootton, Lisa Friberg, Ursula Dallman, Tong Wang, Christopher Coath, and Clara Manno
Biogeosciences, 20, 3573–3591, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-3573-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-3573-2023, 2023
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The oceans play a crucial role in the uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide, particularly the Southern Ocean. The biological pumping of carbon from the surface to the deep ocean is key to this. Using sediment trap samples from the Scotia Sea, we examine biogeochemical fluxes of carbon, nitrogen, and biogenic silica and their stable isotope compositions. We find phytoplankton community structure and physically mediated processes are important controls on particulate fluxes to the deep ocean.
Pierre L'Hégaret, Florian Schütte, Sabrina Speich, Gilles Reverdin, Dariusz B. Baranowski, Rena Czeschel, Tim Fischer, Gregory R. Foltz, Karen J. Heywood, Gerd Krahmann, Rémi Laxenaire, Caroline Le Bihan, Philippe Le Bot, Stéphane Leizour, Callum Rollo, Michael Schlundt, Elizabeth Siddle, Corentin Subirade, Dongxiao Zhang, and Johannes Karstensen
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 1801–1830, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1801-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1801-2023, 2023
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In early 2020, the EUREC4A-OA/ATOMIC experiment took place in the northwestern Tropical Atlantic Ocean, a dynamical region where different water masses interact. Four oceanographic vessels and a fleet of autonomous devices were deployed to study the processes at play and sample the upper ocean, each with its own observing capability. The article first describes the data calibration and validation and second their cross-validation, using a hierarchy of instruments and estimating the uncertainty.
Peter M. F. Sheehan, Gillian M. Damerell, Philip J. Leadbitter, Karen J. Heywood, and Rob A. Hall
Ocean Sci., 19, 77–92, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-19-77-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-19-77-2023, 2023
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We calculate the rate of turbulent kinetic energy dissipation, i.e. the mixing driven by small-scale ocean turbulence, in the western tropical Atlantic Ocean via two methods. We find good agreement between the results of both. A region of elevated mixing is found between 200 and 500 m, and we calculate the associated heat and salt fluxes. We find that double-diffusive mixing in salt fingers, a common feature of the tropical oceans, drives larger heat and salt fluxes than the turbulent mixing.
André Valente, Shubha Sathyendranath, Vanda Brotas, Steve Groom, Michael Grant, Thomas Jackson, Andrei Chuprin, Malcolm Taberner, Ruth Airs, David Antoine, Robert Arnone, William M. Balch, Kathryn Barker, Ray Barlow, Simon Bélanger, Jean-François Berthon, Şükrü Beşiktepe, Yngve Borsheim, Astrid Bracher, Vittorio Brando, Robert J. W. Brewin, Elisabetta Canuti, Francisco P. Chavez, Andrés Cianca, Hervé Claustre, Lesley Clementson, Richard Crout, Afonso Ferreira, Scott Freeman, Robert Frouin, Carlos García-Soto, Stuart W. Gibb, Ralf Goericke, Richard Gould, Nathalie Guillocheau, Stanford B. Hooker, Chuamin Hu, Mati Kahru, Milton Kampel, Holger Klein, Susanne Kratzer, Raphael Kudela, Jesus Ledesma, Steven Lohrenz, Hubert Loisel, Antonio Mannino, Victor Martinez-Vicente, Patricia Matrai, David McKee, Brian G. Mitchell, Tiffany Moisan, Enrique Montes, Frank Muller-Karger, Aimee Neeley, Michael Novak, Leonie O'Dowd, Michael Ondrusek, Trevor Platt, Alex J. Poulton, Michel Repecaud, Rüdiger Röttgers, Thomas Schroeder, Timothy Smyth, Denise Smythe-Wright, Heidi M. Sosik, Crystal Thomas, Rob Thomas, Gavin Tilstone, Andreia Tracana, Michael Twardowski, Vincenzo Vellucci, Kenneth Voss, Jeremy Werdell, Marcel Wernand, Bozena Wojtasiewicz, Simon Wright, and Giuseppe Zibordi
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 5737–5770, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-5737-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-5737-2022, 2022
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A compiled set of in situ data is vital to evaluate the quality of ocean-colour satellite data records. Here we describe the global compilation of bio-optical in situ data (spanning from 1997 to 2021) used for the validation of the ocean-colour products from the ESA Ocean Colour Climate Change Initiative (OC-CCI). The compilation merges and harmonizes several in situ data sources into a simple format that could be used directly for the evaluation of satellite-derived ocean-colour data.
Callum Rollo, Karen J. Heywood, and Rob A. Hall
Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst., 11, 359–373, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-11-359-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-11-359-2022, 2022
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Using an underwater buoyancy-powered autonomous glider, we collected profiles of temperature and salinity from the ocean north-east of Barbados. Most of the temperature and salinity profiles contained staircase-like structures of alternating constant values and large gradients. We wrote an algorithm to identify these staircases. We hypothesise that these staircases are prevented from forming where background gradients in temperature and salinity are too great.
Elise S. Droste, Mario Hoppema, Melchor González-Dávila, Juana Magdalena Santana-Casiano, Bastien Y. Queste, Giorgio Dall'Olmo, Hugh J. Venables, Gerd Rohardt, Sharyn Ossebaar, Daniel Schuller, Sunke Trace-Kleeberg, and Dorothee C. E. Bakker
Ocean Sci., 18, 1293–1320, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-18-1293-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-18-1293-2022, 2022
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Tides affect the marine carbonate chemistry of a coastal polynya neighbouring the Ekström Ice Shelf by movement of seawater with different physical and biogeochemical properties. The result is that the coastal polynya in the summer can switch between being a sink or a source of CO2 multiple times a day. We encourage consideration of tides when collecting in polar coastal regions to account for tide-driven variability and to avoid overestimations or underestimations of air–sea CO2 exchange.
Michael P. Hemming, Jan Kaiser, Jacqueline Boutin, Liliane Merlivat, Karen J. Heywood, Dorothee C. E. Bakker, Gareth A. Lee, Marcos Cobas García, David Antoine, and Kiminori Shitashima
Ocean Sci., 18, 1245–1262, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-18-1245-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-18-1245-2022, 2022
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An underwater glider mission was carried out in spring 2016 near a mooring in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea. The glider deployment served as a test of a prototype ion-sensitive field-effect transistor pH sensor. Mean net community production rates were estimated from glider and buoy measurements of dissolved oxygen and inorganic carbon concentrations before and during the spring bloom. Incorporating advection is important for accurate mass budgets. Unexpected metabolic quotients were found.
Yixi Zheng, David P. Stevens, Karen J. Heywood, Benjamin G. M. Webber, and Bastien Y. Queste
The Cryosphere, 16, 3005–3019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3005-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3005-2022, 2022
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New observations reveal the Thwaites gyre in a habitually ice-covered region in the Amundsen Sea for the first time. This gyre rotates anticlockwise, despite the wind here favouring clockwise gyres like the Pine Island Bay gyre – the only other ocean gyre reported in the Amundsen Sea. We use an ocean model to suggest that sea ice alters the wind stress felt by the ocean and hence determines the gyre direction and strength. These processes may also be applied to other gyres in polar oceans.
Yanxin Wang, Karen J. Heywood, David P. Stevens, and Gillian M. Damerell
Ocean Sci., 18, 839–855, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-18-839-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-18-839-2022, 2022
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It is important that climate models give accurate projections of future extremes in summer and winter sea surface temperature because these affect many features of the global climate system. Our results demonstrate that some models would give large errors if used for future projections of these features, and models with more detailed representation of vertical structure in the ocean tend to have a better representation of sea surface temperature, particularly in summer.
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Short summary
Antarctica is a key region for carbon cycling and export. The efficiency of carbon export has been linked to the type of phytoplankton dominating the system. Our results suggest diatoms, haptophytes, and cryptophytes are present in all water column samples despite substantial physical differences between sampling locations. Our data shows a strong relationship between the proportion of diatoms, haptophytes, and cryptophytes relative to all other phytoplankton and the magnitude of carbon flux.
Antarctica is a key region for carbon cycling and export. The efficiency of carbon export has...
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