Section: News & Features
Published: March 18, 2022
In the tropical Pacific, year-to-year changes in chlorophyll is dominated by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. El Niño can sharply reduce the regional supply of nutrients, limiting phytoplankton growth. GFDL’s new Earth System Model captures not only the onset and extent of chlorophyll anomalies during El Niño events, but also a pronounced post-El Niño “chlorophyll rebound” that produces positive equatorial Pacific chlorophyll anomalies in the summer following El Niño events.