Warming and Inhibition of Salinization at the Ocean's Surface by Cyanobacteria

Wurl, O; Bird, K; Cunliffe, M; Landing, WM; Miller, U; Mustaffa, NIH; Ribas-Ribas, M; Witte, C; Zappa, CJ. 2018 Warming and Inhibition of Salinization at the Ocean's Surface by Cyanobacteria. Geophysical Research Letters. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL077946

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Abstract/Summary

This paper describes high‐resolution in situ observations of temperature and, for the first time, of salinity in the uppermost skin layer of the ocean, including the influence of large surface blooms of cyanobacteria on those skin properties. In the presence of the blooms, large anomalies of skin temperature and salinity of 0.95°C and −0.49 practical salinity unit were found, but a substantially cooler (−0.22°C) and saltier skin layer (0.19 practical salinity unit) was found in the absence of surface blooms. The results suggest that biologically controlled warming and inhibition of salinization of the ocean's surface occur. Less saline skin layers form during precipitation, but our observations also show that surface blooms of Trichodesmium sp. inhibit evaporation decreasing the salinity at the ocean's surface. This study has important implications in the assessment of precipitation over the ocean using remotely sensed salinity, but also for a better understanding of heat exchange and the hydrologic cycle on a regional scale.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Divisions:	Marine Biological Association of the UK > Mechanisms underlying biogeochemical and ecological processes > Marine Microbial Biochemistry
Depositing User:	Barbara Bultmann
Date made live:	17 May 2018 12:49
Last Modified:	25 Apr 2020 09:59
URI:	https://plymsea.ac.uk/id/eprint/7893

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