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Harmful algal blooms: mechanisms, monitoring, and prevention in a rapidly changing world
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Ecosystem state change in the Arabian Sea linked to shrinking snow caps of the Himalayan-Tibetan Plateau
Wednesday 9th @ 1010-1030, Multifunction Hall
Joaquim I. Goes* , Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University, Palisades, New York
Hongzhen Tian, Tianjin Polytechnic University, Tianjin, P.R. China
Helga do Rosario Gomes, Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University, Palisades, New York
Xiaojian Jiang, Huaiyin Normal University, Jiangsu, 223300, China
Hao Luo, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
Khalid Al-Hashimi, Sultan Qaboos University, Al-Khod, Sultanate of Oman
Presenter Email: jig@ldeo.xolumbia.edu |
| The recent trend of global warming has exerted a disproportionately strong influence on the Eurasian land surface causing a steady decline in winter snow cover extent over the Himalayan-Tibetan Plateau region. Here we show that this loss of snow is undermining convective mixing responsible for nutrient enrichment of diatom blooms during the boreal winter component of the monsoonal cycle in the Arabian Sea and is instead, fostering an ecosystem state change which is fueling the rapid range expansion of Noctiluca scintillans blooms. Since their advent in early 2000s, Noctiluca blooms have become increasingly more pervasive and widespread during winter, superseding the basin-wide biomass of autotrophic phytoplankton during the more productive summer upwelling season. Although Noctiluca blooms are non-toxic, they can cause fish mortality by exacerbating seawater oxygen deficiency and ammonification of seawater. Noctiluca are not a preferred food for zooplankton and therefore their continued range expansion represents a significant and growing threat for regional fisheries and the welfare of coastal communities bordering the Arabian Sea. |
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