Are trends in SST, surface Chlorophyll-a, primary production and wind stress similar or different over the decadal scale in the south-eastern Black Sea?

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Agirbas E., FEYZİOĞLU A. M., Aytan U., Valente A., YILDIZ İ.

CAHIERS DE BIOLOGIE MARINE, vol.56, no.4, pp.329-336, 2015 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 56 Issue: 4
  • Publication Date: 2015
  • Doi Number: 10.21411/cbm.a.1471a62e
  • Journal Name: CAHIERS DE BIOLOGIE MARINE
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.329-336
  • Keywords: Black Sea, Chlorophyll-a, Sea Surface Temperature, Wind Stress, Primary Production, CLIMATE-CHANGE, MNEMIOPSIS-LEIDYI, REGIME-SHIFTS, PHYTOPLANKTON, ABUNDANCE, WESTERN, ECOSYSTEM, PLANKTON, PATCHES, IMPACT
  • Open Archive Collection: AVESIS Open Access Collection
  • Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

A 10-year time series of in-situ sea surface temperature (SST), chlorophyll-a concentration and wind stress from 2002 to 2011 was used to examine temporal changes in the South-Eastern Black Sea, together with primary production rates (PP) calculated empirically. Satellite-derived SST was used to support the in-situ SST, and showed a good agreement. The yearly averaged trend for in-situ and satellite-derived winter SST revealed a statistically significant warming over the last decade in the region of. interest. Statistically significant correlation between winter NAO and winter averaged SST suggested that winter SST in the South-Eastern Black Sea is influenced by NAO climatic trends. A consistent decrease in wind stress was observed throughout the time series. Inverse relationship between winter averages of SST and wind stress suggested that SST is forced by wind speed. Chl-a and PP fluctuations during the study period revealed that the system is dominated by nanoplankton with some additional contribution from larger species. We concluded that SST in the South-Eastern Black Sea has increased over the decade, whereas the trend in Chl-a and PP rates were not straightforward. Hence, these conditions with respect to other parameters will need to be considered in future studies for the Black Sea ecosystem.