资源环境科技发展态势分析平台

Phytoplankton blooms of the coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi are known to produce CO2, causing less uptake of atmospheric CO2 by the ocean, but a global assessment of this phenomenon has so far not been quantified. Therefore, here we quantify the increase in CO2 partial pressure (Delta pCO(2)) at the ocean surface within E. huxleyi blooms for polar and subpolar seas using an 18 year ocean color time series (1998-2015). When normalized to pCO(2) in the absence of bloom, the mean and maximum Delta pCO(2) values within the bloom areas varied between 21.0%-43.3% and 31.6%-62.5%, respectively. These results might have appreciable implications for climatology, marine chemistry, and ecology.