temperature and chlorophyll

[sibu]

Hi friends,
Can anybody explain me 1) Is there any relationship between temperature and chlorophyll?

[skdash]

Temperature and chlorophyll are inversely related. Due to instrusion of water the phytoplankton (Chl-a, chl-b, chl-c etc.) are found more in coastal water than open ocean. If you need any more information please read Satellite Oceanography by I.S.Robinson.

[aboobacker]

Hi,

A paper is attached here, which will be useful for further information.

with regards,

[rocksea]

Hi friends,
Can anybody explain me 1) why the chlorophyll quantity is more in coastal region of world ocean? and 2) why the temperature is also less in coast? 3) Is there any relationship between temperature and chlorophyll?1.
In coastal regions, you have coastal upwelling where the water from the subsurface upwells and brings with it nutrients and dissolved gases that are important for plant growth. Deep waters are rich in nutrients which include nitrate and phosphate, (formed by decomposition of sinking organic matter from surface waters). When brought to the surface, these nutrients are utilized by phytoplankton, along with dissolved carbon dioxide and light energy from the sun, to produce organic compounds, through photosynthesis.

2.
Because the water that is upwelled is colder, temperature of upwelling areas will be less than the surroundings.

3.
I dont know about the direct relationships between temperature and chlorophyll. There could be some specific temperature at which chlorophyll production is maximum. Also, as skdash pointed out, there could be a threshold above which temperature and chlorophyll are inversely related.

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Coastal Upwelling: In the northern Hemisphere, when winds blow either equatorward along an eastern ocean boundary or poleward along a western ocean boundary, surface waters are driven away from the coasts and replaced by denser waters from below. Reverse is the case for the southern hemisphere. The effect is called Coriolis Effect, by which wind-driven currents tend to be driven to the right of the winds in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left of the winds in the Southern Hemisphere.

[rocksea]

on point 3,

This is what is written in the book 'The Oceans' by Sverdrup et al., about the relationship between temperature and phytoplankton production.
http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=kt167nb66r&doc.view=0&toc.depth=1&query=0&chunk.id=ch16&doc.id=ch16

"Factors Influencing Metabolism. The rate of metabolism is much accelerated with rise in temperature. According to van't Hoff's law the increase is two to three times for each 10° rise in temperature within favorable limits. Very little is known regarding the optimum temperature conditions for the various phytoplankton species. However, it is known that various species may be attuned to a given temperature range. The species with common temperature requirements constitute biological groups which, if cold-water loving, may thrive in the Arctic in summer and in lower latitudes only during colder seasons. The growing season for a cold-water group may thus shift toward the Equator as winter approaches, and that for a warm-water group poleward with the approach of summer."

note: thanks to rasdea for reminding about this book :)

[praveen]

I don't know much about the relationship of chlorophyll with temperature. But ofcourse chlorophyll concentration can cause changes in the solar radtion flux in ocean. MOM4 (a GFDML OGCM) has a new solar penetration scheme based on the cholorophyll concentration. More information is available in MOM4 User Guide. See the link below

http://www.gfdl.noaa.gov/~smg/pointers/geo_physics_abstracts/guide.pdf
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