Report on parameterizing seasonal response patterns in primary- and net community production to ocean alkalinization
Authors: Taucher Jan , Schartau Markus 
Published: October 2024

We applied a 1-D plankton ecosystem-biogeochemical model to assess the impacts of ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE) on seasonal changes in biogeochemistry and plankton dynamics. Depending on deployment scenarios, OAE should theoretically have variable effects on pH and seawater pCO2, which might in turn affect (a) plankton growth conditions and (b) the efficiency of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) via OAE. Thus, a major focus of our work is how different magnitudes and temporal frequencies of OAE might affect seasonal response patterns of net primary productivity (NPP), ecosystem functioning and biogeochemical cycling. With our study we aimed at identifying a parameterization of how magnitude and frequency of OAE affect net growth rates, so that these effects could be employed for Earth System Modell applications. So far we learned that a meaningful response parameterization has to resolve positive and negative anomalies that covary with temporal shifts. As to the intricacy of the response patterns, the derivation of such parameterization is work in progress. However, our study readily provides valuable insights to how OAE can alter plankton dynamics and biogeochemistry. Our modelling study first focuses at a local site where time series data are available (European Station for Time series in the Ocean Canary Islands ESTOC), including measurements of pH, concentrations of total alkalinity, dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), chlorophyll-a and dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN). These observational data were made available by Andres Cianca (personal communication, PLOCAN, Spain), Melchor Gonzalez and Magdalena Santana Casiano (personal communication, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria). The choice of this location was underpinned by the fact that the first OAE mesocosm experiment was conducted on the Canary Island Gran Canaria, which will facilitate synthesizing our modelling approach with experimental findings. For our simulations at the ESTOC site in the Subtropical North Atlantic we found distinct, non-linear responses of NPP to different temporal modes of alkalinity deployment. In particular, phytoplankton bloom patterns displayed pronounced temporal phase shifts and changes in their amplitude. Notably, our simulations suggest that OAE can have a slightly stimulating effect on NPP, which is however variable, depending on the magnitude of OAE and the temporal mode of alkalinity addition. Furthermore, we find that increasing alkalinity perturbations can lead to a shift in phytoplankton community composition (towards coccolithophores), which even persists after OAE has stopped. In terms of CDR, we found that a decrease in efficiency with increasing magnitude of alkalinity addition, as well as substantial differences related to the timing of addition. Altogether, our results suggest that annual OAE during the right season (i.e. physical and biological conditions), could be a reasonable compromise in terms of logistical feasibility, efficiency of CDR and side-effects on marine biota. With respect to transferability to global models, the complex, non-linear responses of biological processes to OAE identified in our simulations do not allow for simple parameterizations that can easily adapted. Dedicated future work is required to transfer the observed responses at small spatiotemporal scales to the coarser resolution of global models.