Reduced efficiency of biological pump in the Northwestern Pacific

Abstract

The western Pacific warm pool (WPWP) area has recently extended, which may influence considerably the marine ecosystems in the tropical Pacific. Here, we show the long-term trends in particle fluxes associated with the marine ecosystem changes in WPWP area. Total mass and biogenic fluxes have an annually decreasing trend from 2009 to 2014, which is mainly derived by the decrease in the biomass of N2 fixing cyanobacteria during summer. In the western tropical Pacific, the decrease in the biomass of N2 fixing cyanobacteria is attributed to the decrease of phosphate concentration associated with the shoaling of the winter mixed layer depth. The efficiency of biological pump has recently reduced in the western tropical Pacific, which might suppress the oceanic sequestration of atmospheric CO2 and thereby accelerate the global warming in the future.