Phytoplankton Chlorophyll Trends in the Arctic at the Local, Regional, and Pan‐Arctic Scales (1998–2022)

Abstract

Abstract We analyzed the temporal trends (1998–2022) of surface phytoplankton Chlorophyll (Chl) concentration in the Arctic at the local, regional, and pan‐Arctic scales. We used four empirically derived Chl satellite ocean color products: two global merged products and two MODIS products, one calibrated to the Arctic. At the local level, between 10% and 40% of the area with valid pixels showed statistically significant Chl trends, with ∼2/3 of those pixels showing increases, and the other third indicating a decrease. At the regional level, only the Barents and Chukchi Seas had consistent Chl increases across products. At the pan‐Arctic level, most products showed Chl increases in the months of July and September (0.3%–0.9% Chl year−1), even after removing the effect of new open water pixels. Overall, Chl is changing in the Arctic, although trends vary threefold depending on the product and spatial‐averaging assumptions used.

Keywords

• Arctic phytoplankton
• Arctic chlorophyll
• phytoplankton trends
• satellite remote sensing
• satellite ocean color