Submesoscale horizontal stirring enhances seasonal enrichment of low-chlorophyll surface waters in the Eastern Mediterranean
Abstract. The large seasonal increase in marine photosynthetic organisms – i.e., phytoplankton bloom – is a ubiquitous oceanic phenomenon that contributes to the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and that supports the growth and development of larger organisms throughout the marine ecosystem. The underlying mechanisms controlling the intensity and timing of these blooms have been proposed to be dominated by vertical transport and mixing processes that are enhanced at front and filament circulation patterns, commonly known as submesoscale currents. Here we show that the winter blooms characterizing the ultra oligotrophic waters of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, which are manifested by a seasonal increase in satellite-derived levels of surface chlorophyll, are intensified by enhanced horizontal stirring induced by the submesoscale currents. Using ocean color remote sensing data and high-resolution numerical simulations, we demonstrate that the intensification of submesoscale currents in winter efficiently connect the coastal waters and the ultra-oligotrophic waters in the sea interior, thereby enriching the latter with chlorophyll-rich water. A comparison of climatological chlorophyll time series indicates that this submesoscale horizontal stirring mechanism is responsible for ∼ 24 % of the seasonal surface chlorophyll increase in the region. These results shed new light on the processes governing phytoplankton bloom intensity and emphasize the important role of submesoscale horizontal stirring in regulating the marine ecosystem.
This article provides a compelling story of how coastal-to-offshore submesoscale stirring fuels the annual winter phytoplankton blooms in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. To do so, the authors examine the spatiotemporal submesoscale physics of a numerical model and compare the patterns with satellite chlorophyll observations. Overall, I enjoyed reading about this work and believe that it will be a good fit for Ocean Science after further revision.
The authors wrote the article in a letter-like format, which ultimately obscures some of the details. Since the manuscript was submitted as a “Research Article”, my recommendations are made with that in mind. As a reader, I was itching for more information about the model and Lagrangian particle tracking that was not provided until the very end in the Appendix. I believe the results would be better supported if Appendix A and the Methods Sections were combined and moved before the Results Section. Many of my other suggestions are for more methodological detail and quantitative statistics to be provided to support the findings. Please see the attached document for specific comments and technical corrections.