Physical forcing of phytoplankton dynamics in the Al-Wajh lagoon (Red Sea)

Zhan, Peng1,2; Krokos, George1; Gittings, John A.3; Raitsos, Dionysios E.1,3; Guo, Daquan1; Papagiannopoulos, Nikolaos1; Hoteit, Ibrahim1

2022-07-01

10.1002/lol2.10266

LIMNOLOGY AND OCEANOGRAPHY LETTERS   Impact Factor & Quartile

2378-2242

Coastal lagoons are biodiversity hotspots that support neighboring ecosystems and various services. They can exhibit distinct biophysical characteristics compared to the adjacent open sea and act paradoxically as autonomous ecosystems. Using remotely sensed observations and state-of-the-art numerical simulations, the role of water column hydrodynamics in shaping the seasonal succession of phytoplankton biomass was investigated for a nonestuarine coastal lagoon situated in the northeastern Red Sea. Observations reveal that seasonal phytoplankton blooms inside the lagoon occur during a distinctively different period compared to the adjacent open sea. We provide evidence that this striking difference is due to the contrasting hydrodynamic conditions between inside and outside the lagoon, through their effects on stratification that regulate nutrient availability and hence favorable conditions to sustain rapid phytoplankton growth. The proposed mechanism may offer new insights into understanding the biophysical dynamics of non-estuarine coastal lagoons in other tropical regions of the global oceans.

SCI

English

Others

office of sponsored research (OSR) at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) under the Virtual Red Sea Initiative[REP/1/3268-01-01] ; Living Planet Felllowship of the European Space Agency[POSEIDON/14-03-2021]

Marine & Freshwater Biology ; Oceanography

Limnology ; Marine & Freshwater Biology ; Oceanography

WOS:000820670000001

WILEY

Web of Science

1.King Abdullah Univ Sci & Technol KAUST, Div Phys Sci & Engn, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia
2.Southern Univ Sci & Technol, Dept Ocean Sci & Engn, Shenzhen, Peoples R China
3.Natl & Kapodistrian Univ Athens, Dept Biol, Athens, Greece

Zhan, Peng,Krokos, George,Gittings, John A.,et al. Physical forcing of phytoplankton dynamics in the Al-Wajh lagoon (Red Sea)[J]. LIMNOLOGY AND OCEANOGRAPHY LETTERS,2022.

Zhan, Peng.,Krokos, George.,Gittings, John A..,Raitsos, Dionysios E..,Guo, Daquan.,...&Hoteit, Ibrahim.(2022).Physical forcing of phytoplankton dynamics in the Al-Wajh lagoon (Red Sea).LIMNOLOGY AND OCEANOGRAPHY LETTERS.

Zhan, Peng,et al."Physical forcing of phytoplankton dynamics in the Al-Wajh lagoon (Red Sea)".LIMNOLOGY AND OCEANOGRAPHY LETTERS (2022).