Ecosystem dynamics based on plankton functional types for global ocean biogeochemistry models |
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Authors: | Corinne Le Quéré Sandy P. Harrison I. Colin Prentice Erik T. Buitenhuis Olivier Aumont Laurent Bopp Hervé Claustre Leticia Cotrim Da Cunha Richard Geider Xavier Giraud Christine Klaas Karen E. Kohfeld Louis Legendre Manfredi Manizza Trevor Platt Richard B. Rivkin Shubha Sathyendranath Julia Uitz Andy J. Watson Dieter Wolf-Gladrow |
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Affiliation: | Max Planck Institut für Biogeochemie, Postfach 100164, D-07701 Jena, Germany,;School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, University Road, Bristol BS8 1SS, UK,;QUEST, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Queen's Road, Bristol BS8 1RJ, UK,;Lab. d'Océanographie Dynamique et du Climat, Univ. Paris VI, 4 Place Jussieu, F-75005 France,;Lab. des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, Orme des Merisiers, Bat. 709, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France,;Lab. d'Océanographie de Villefranche, B.P. 08, 06 238 Villefranche-sur-Mer Cedex, France,;Department for Biological Sciences, University of Essex, Colchester CO4 3SQ, UK,;Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Am Handelshafen 12, D-27570 Bremerhaven, Germany,;School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK,;Department of Oceanography, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia B3 H 4J1, Canada,;Ocean Sciences Centre, Memorial University, St. John's, Newfoundland A1C 5S7, Canada |
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Abstract: | Ecosystem processes are important determinants of the biogeochemistry of the ocean, and they can be profoundly affected by changes in climate. Ocean models currently express ecosystem processes through empirically derived parameterizations that tightly link key geochemical tracers to ocean physics. The explicit inclusion of ecosystem processes in models will permit ecological changes to be taken into account, and will allow us to address several important questions, including the causes of observed glacial–interglacial changes in atmospheric trace gases and aerosols, and how the oceanic uptake of CO2 is likely to change in the future. There is an urgent need to assess our mechanistic understanding of the environmental factors that exert control over marine ecosystems, and to represent their natural complexity based on theoretical understanding. We present a prototype design for a Dynamic Green Ocean Model (DGOM) based on the identification of (a) key plankton functional types that need to be simulated explicitly to capture important biogeochemical processes in the ocean; (b) key processes controlling the growth and mortality of these functional types and hence their interactions; and (c) sources of information necessary to parameterize each of these processes within a modeling framework. We also develop a strategy for model evaluation, based on simulation of both past and present mean state and variability, and identify potential sources of validation data for each. Finally, we present a DGOM-based strategy for addressing key questions in ocean biogeochemistry. This paper thus presents ongoing work in ocean biogeochemical modeling, which, it is hoped will motivate international collaborations to improve our understanding of the role of the ocean in the climate system. |
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Keywords: | carbon cycle climate change ecosystem functional types glacial–interglacial cycles modeling ocean plankton |
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