WITHDRAWN: Decline in ocean net primary production coincident with the 2023 heat wave

doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-4014371/v1

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WITHDRAWN: Decline in ocean net primary production coincident with the 2023 heat wave

https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4014371/v1

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The full text of this preprint has been withdrawn by the authors since they no longer stand by the findings/conclusions of this work. During the review process it was brought to their attention that the satellite used to generate critical data in the manuscript was no longer calibrated (Kevin Twedt et al. "Impact of satellite orbit drift on MODIS Earth scene observations used in calibration of the reflective solar bands", Proc. SPIE 12685, Earth Observing Systems XXVIII, 126850O (4 October 2023); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2676873)."); these problematic issues were not flagged on the data repositories from which they retrieved their data. Therefore, the authors do not wish this work to be cited as a reference. Questions should be directed to the corresponding author.

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Marine primary productivity is pivotal for transferring carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into the ocean. Global marine net primary production (NPP) rates derived from satellite-based estimates of primary producer biomass, sea surface temperature, and light availability are estimated to be ~4 Pmol C y^{-1 1–3}. A major outstanding question is the sensitivity of NPP to future ocean warming, both regionally and globally. Here we used chlorophyll a data from the last 21 years to estimate NPP and determined that April 2023 global NPP - when sea surface temperatures (SSTs) reflected a substantial marine heat wave - dropped to 2.76 Pmol C y^-1, or 22% below the time series mean. Using a spatially integrated approach, we show that the pelagic ocean experienced the most prominent decrease in NPP during peak SSTs in September 2023. The decrease in NPP was most pronounced in equatorial regions of the Atlantic and Pacific, as well as the northern Atlantic; all of these areas exhibited positive SST anomalies. Finally, we compared optimal temperatures (T_opt) of phytoplankton photosynthesis to observed SSTs and show that during the NPP decline, in 65% of the surveyed area, the Topt was exceeded, suggesting a physiological mechanism for the observed decrease in NPP.

Earth and environmental sciences/Climate sciences/Ocean sciences/Marine biology

Earth and environmental sciences/Biogeochemistry/Carbon cycle

There is NO Competing Interest.