Recent Changes in Phytoplankton Communities Associated with Rapid Regional Climate Change Along the Western Antarctic Peninsula

@article{MontesHugo2009RecentCI,
  title={Recent Changes in Phytoplankton Communities Associated with Rapid Regional Climate Change Along the Western Antarctic Peninsula},
  author={Martin A. Montes-Hugo and Scott C. Doney and Hugh W. Ducklow and William R. Fraser and Douglas G. Martinson and Sharon E. Stammerjohn and Oscar Schofield},
  journal={Science},
  year={2009},
  volume={323},
  pages={1470 - 1473}
}
The climate of the western shelf of the Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) is undergoing a transition from a cold-dry polar-type climate to a warm-humid sub-Antarctic–type climate. Using three decades of satellite and field data, we document that ocean biological productivity, inferred from chlorophyll a concentration (Chl a), has significantly changed along the WAP shelf. Summertime surface Chl a (summer integrated Chl a ∼63% of annually integrated Chl a) declined by 12% along the WAP over the past 30… 
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621 Citations

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TLDR
Analysis of inter-decadal time series of year-round chlorophyll-a collected from three stations along the West Antarctic Peninsula highlights a coupled link between phytoplankton and physical and climate dynamics along the coastal WAP, which may improve understanding of overall WAP food-web responses to climate change and variability.
Changes in the upper ocean mixed layer and phytoplankton productivity along the West Antarctic Peninsula
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[1] The Southern Ocean is a climatically sensitive region that plays an important role in the regional and global modulation of atmospheric CO2. Based on satellite-derived sea ice data, wind and…
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A marked shift in an Antarctic benthic community that can be linked to ongoing climate change is reported, and the resulting increased sediment runoff, triggered by glacier retreat, is highlighted as the potential causal factor.
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