Can phytoplankton community structure be inferred from satellite-derived sea surface temperature anomalies calculated relative to nitrate depletion temperatures?

Hydrographic data collected in the upper 50 m off La Jolla, CA, USA (31°N, 117°W) between 1970 and 1972 were reanalyzed to examine temporal variability in the local temperature–nitrate relationship and to document how chlorophyll a concentration and phytoplankton community structure covary with the temperature–nitrate relationship. Based on the linear expression y=mx+b, the y-intercepts (b), slopes (m), and x-intercepts (−b/m or nitrate depletion temperature, NDT) of four seasonal (January–March, April–June, July–September, and October–December) temperature–nitrate relationships, obtained from the combined multiyear data set, were statistically different from each other and varied around overall multiyear values of b=72.73 μM, m=−5.33 μM °C−1, and NDT=13.65 °C. Three interannual temperature–nitrate relationships from February to April 1970, 1971, and 1972 also had y-intercepts, slopes, and x-intercepts that were statistically different from each other. Nevertheless, limited variability in direct comparisons among seasonal or interannual regression lines and a 1 °C La Jolla NDT range compared to a 25 °C global NDT range supported the general utility of NDT-based comparisons. A nitrate-normalized temperature axis (T−NDT) was created for the La Jolla data set by subtracting NDT from the recorded water column temperatures (T). Chlorophyll a reached a maximum between 0 and 2 °C on this T–NDT axis that ranged from −4 to 10 °C. Microscope-based determinations of La Jolla centric diatom, pennate diatom and dinoflagellate abundances, and La Jolla chlorophyll a, partitioned in proportion to the numerical abundance of the three groups, both peaked in logical progression along the T–NDT axis. In a separate analysis of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) data from three Atlantic Meridional Transect (AMT) cruises (50°N to 52°S), chlorophyll a peaked below 0 °C and three different phytoplankton classes, nanoflagellates, large eukaryotes and prokaryotes, distributed in logical progression along a sea surface temperature (SST) minus NDT axis. To further generalize these results, a previously reported 1° latitude×1° longitude grid of NDTs for the world ocean was applied to satellite-derived grids of SST for March 1999 through June 2000. The SST−NDT calculation provided a standard nitrate-normalized axis simultaneously applicable to all locations in the world ocean. Sixteen plots of satellite-derived chlorophyll a versus SST−NDT for March 1999 through June 2000 demonstrated the opposing seasonal movements of northern and southern hemisphere chlorophyll a along the SST–NDT axis. Based on the phytoplankton community patterns along the temperature minus NDT in the La Jolla and AMT data sets, this chlorophyll a movement along the SST–NDT axis can be associated with phytoplankton community changes related to location around SST−NDT=0 °C. The SST−NDT index appears to provide a useful tool for interpreting the character of the phytoplankton community structure contributing to satellite-derived chlorophyll a in the world ocean.