Increased melt from Greenland’s most active glacier fuels enhanced coastal productivity
Abstract Seasonal phytoplankton blooms in Greenland’s coastal waters form the base of marine food webs and contribute to oceanic carbon uptake. In Qeqertarsuup Tunua, West Greenland, a secondary summertime bloom follows the Arctic spring bloom, enhancing annual primary productivity. Emerging evidenc...
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Nature Portfolio
2025-08-01
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| Series: | Communications Earth & Environment |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02599-1 |
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| author | Michael Wood Dustin Carroll Ian Fenty Clément Bertin Basil Darby Stephanie Dutkiewicz Mark Hopwood Ala Khazendar Lorenz Meire Hilde Oliver Tara Parker Josh Willis |
| author_facet | Michael Wood Dustin Carroll Ian Fenty Clément Bertin Basil Darby Stephanie Dutkiewicz Mark Hopwood Ala Khazendar Lorenz Meire Hilde Oliver Tara Parker Josh Willis |
| author_sort | Michael Wood |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Seasonal phytoplankton blooms in Greenland’s coastal waters form the base of marine food webs and contribute to oceanic carbon uptake. In Qeqertarsuup Tunua, West Greenland, a secondary summertime bloom follows the Arctic spring bloom, enhancing annual primary productivity. Emerging evidence links this summer bloom to subglacial discharge from Sermeq Kujalleq, the most active glacier on the Greenland Ice Sheet. This discharge drives localized upwelling that may alleviate nutrient limitation in surface waters, yet this mechanism remains poorly quantified. Here, we employ a high-resolution biogeochemical model nested within a global state estimate to assess how discharge-driven upwelling influences primary productivity and carbon fluxes. We find that upwelling increases summer productivity by 15–40% in Qeqertarsuup Tunua, yet annual carbon dioxide uptake rises by only ~3% due to reduced solubility in plume-upwelled waters. These findings suggest that intensifying ice sheet melt may alter Greenland’s coastal productivity and carbon cycling under future climate scenarios. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-1a265b4bfb9b40ec8c8c4f8d5ac4b87c |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2662-4435 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-08-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Communications Earth & Environment |
| spelling | doaj-art-1a265b4bfb9b40ec8c8c4f8d5ac4b87c2025-08-20T03:06:08ZengNature PortfolioCommunications Earth & Environment2662-44352025-08-016111210.1038/s43247-025-02599-1Increased melt from Greenland’s most active glacier fuels enhanced coastal productivityMichael Wood0Dustin Carroll1Ian Fenty2Clément Bertin3Basil Darby4Stephanie Dutkiewicz5Mark Hopwood6Ala Khazendar7Lorenz Meire8Hilde Oliver9Tara Parker10Josh Willis11Moss Landing Marine Labs, San José State UniversityMoss Landing Marine Labs, San José State UniversityJet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of TechnologyJet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of TechnologyMoss Landing Marine Labs, San José State UniversityMassachusetts Institute of Technology CambridgeDepartment of Ocean Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and TechnologyJet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of TechnologyGreenland Climate Research Centre, Greenland Institute of Natural ResourcesWoods Hole Oceanographic InstitutionMoss Landing Marine Labs, San José State UniversityJet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of TechnologyAbstract Seasonal phytoplankton blooms in Greenland’s coastal waters form the base of marine food webs and contribute to oceanic carbon uptake. In Qeqertarsuup Tunua, West Greenland, a secondary summertime bloom follows the Arctic spring bloom, enhancing annual primary productivity. Emerging evidence links this summer bloom to subglacial discharge from Sermeq Kujalleq, the most active glacier on the Greenland Ice Sheet. This discharge drives localized upwelling that may alleviate nutrient limitation in surface waters, yet this mechanism remains poorly quantified. Here, we employ a high-resolution biogeochemical model nested within a global state estimate to assess how discharge-driven upwelling influences primary productivity and carbon fluxes. We find that upwelling increases summer productivity by 15–40% in Qeqertarsuup Tunua, yet annual carbon dioxide uptake rises by only ~3% due to reduced solubility in plume-upwelled waters. These findings suggest that intensifying ice sheet melt may alter Greenland’s coastal productivity and carbon cycling under future climate scenarios.https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02599-1 |
| spellingShingle | Michael Wood Dustin Carroll Ian Fenty Clément Bertin Basil Darby Stephanie Dutkiewicz Mark Hopwood Ala Khazendar Lorenz Meire Hilde Oliver Tara Parker Josh Willis Increased melt from Greenland’s most active glacier fuels enhanced coastal productivity Communications Earth & Environment |
| title | Increased melt from Greenland’s most active glacier fuels enhanced coastal productivity |
| title_full | Increased melt from Greenland’s most active glacier fuels enhanced coastal productivity |
| title_fullStr | Increased melt from Greenland’s most active glacier fuels enhanced coastal productivity |
| title_full_unstemmed | Increased melt from Greenland’s most active glacier fuels enhanced coastal productivity |
| title_short | Increased melt from Greenland’s most active glacier fuels enhanced coastal productivity |
| title_sort | increased melt from greenland s most active glacier fuels enhanced coastal productivity |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02599-1 |
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