The abrupt decline in snow over southwest Asia and the Himalayan-Tibetan Plateau due to warming of Eurasia is causing widespread blooms of ocean plants in the Arabian Sea.
April 24, 2005 (Press Release) --
An abrupt decline in winter-time snow over the Himalayan mountain range and Southwest Asia is creating conditions for more widespread blooms of phytoplankton in the Arabian Sea according to a recent study led by Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences scientists’ appearing in the forthcoming issue of the journal Science.
According to Joaquim Goes, the lead author of the article entitled “Warming of the Eurasian Landmass is making the Arabian Sea more productive”, some of these changes that we are witnessing are rapid and profound and could have far reaching consequences not only for the ecosystem of the Arabian Sea but for the general health of our planet as well.
Over the past 7 years, the western half of the Arabian Sea has witnessed record increases in phytoplankton resulting from a year-by-year intensification of monsoon winds. Goes and his colleagues have been able to show that these changes are being triggering by the rapid decline and meltdown of winter-time snow over southwest Asia and the Himalayas.
While the southwest monsoon winds blowing over the Arabian Sea bring much needed rainfall to a large part of the Asian continent, they also cause upwelling of cooler nutrient-rich water off the coasts of Somalia, Oman and Yemen and hence ideal conditions for phytoplankton to bloom during summer.
While large blooms of phytoplankton can enhance fisheries, unusually high ocean plant increases could be detrimental to the ecosystem as they can cause oxygen depletion at depth. If the present warming trend continues, the Arabian Sea could slowly become devoid of oxygen according to Goes. In recent years, fishermen off the coast of Oman have encountered several instances of massive fish mortality in this region, according to scientists at the Dept. of Marine Sciences and Fisheries at the Sultan Qaboos University in Oman. These incidences of fish kills are generally preceded by unusually high fish landings associated with phytoplankton blooms.
Oxygen depleted waters provide the perfect environment for the growth of a specialized group of bacteria called the denitrifying bacteria, which convert nitrate present in seawater into less oxidized forms of nitrogen. One such form is nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas. Nitrous oxide is a greenhouse gas whose global warming potential is over 300 times that of carbon dioxide. Increased phytoplankton in the oxygen limited deeper waters of the Arabian Sea could therefore exacerbate the greenhouse problem.
The events Goes has studied have global implications. Monsoon seasons affect over one-third of the world’s population living in Africa and Asia.
For more information on this research, see online resources at Bigelow’s website: www.bigelow.org/climatechange and at NASA’s website: http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/eurasian_melt.html
An abrupt decline in winter-time snow over the Himalayan mountain range and Southwest Asia is creating conditions for more widespread blooms of phytoplankton in the Arabian Sea according to a recent study led by Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences scientists’ appearing in the forthcoming issue of the journal Science.
According to Joaquim Goes, the lead author of the article entitled “Warming of the Eurasian Landmass is making the Arabian Sea more productive”, some of these changes that we are witnessing are rapid and profound and could have far reaching consequences not only for the ecosystem of the Arabian Sea but for the general health of our planet as well.
Over the past 7 years, the western half of the Arabian Sea has witnessed record increases in phytoplankton resulting from a year-by-year intensification of monsoon winds. Goes and his colleagues have been able to show that these changes are being triggering by the rapid decline and meltdown of winter-time snow over southwest Asia and the Himalayas.
While the southwest monsoon winds blowing over the Arabian Sea bring much needed rainfall to a large part of the Asian continent, they also cause upwelling of cooler nutrient-rich water off the coasts of Somalia, Oman and Yemen and hence ideal conditions for phytoplankton to bloom during summer.
While large blooms of phytoplankton can enhance fisheries, unusually high ocean plant increases could be detrimental to the ecosystem as they can cause oxygen depletion at depth. If the present warming trend continues, the Arabian Sea could slowly become devoid of oxygen according to Goes. In recent years, fishermen off the coast of Oman have encountered several instances of massive fish mortality in this region, according to scientists at the Dept. of Marine Sciences and Fisheries at the Sultan Qaboos University in Oman. These incidences of fish kills are generally preceded by unusually high fish landings associated with phytoplankton blooms.
Oxygen depleted waters provide the perfect environment for the growth of a specialized group of bacteria called the denitrifying bacteria, which convert nitrate present in seawater into less oxidized forms of nitrogen. One such form is nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas. Nitrous oxide is a greenhouse gas whose global warming potential is over 300 times that of carbon dioxide. Increased phytoplankton in the oxygen limited deeper waters of the Arabian Sea could therefore exacerbate the greenhouse problem.
The events Goes has studied have global implications. Monsoon seasons affect over one-third of the world’s population living in Africa and Asia.
For more information on this research, see online resources at Bigelow’s website: www.bigelow.org/climatechange and at NASA’s website: http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/eurasian_melt.html
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