{"id":27805,"date":"2025-05-07T15:41:56","date_gmt":"2025-05-07T13:41:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/isblue.fr\/news\/etude-des-changements-lumineux-sur-la-pompe-biologique-de-carbone\/"},"modified":"2025-05-21T12:22:23","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T10:22:23","slug":"etude-des-changements-lumineux-sur-la-pompe-biologique-de-carbone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/isblue.fr\/en\/news\/etude-des-changements-lumineux-sur-la-pompe-biologique-de-carbone\/","title":{"rendered":"Study of Light Changes on the Biological Carbon Pump"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The ECLiPse Arctic project is studying Light Changes on the Biological Carbon Pump during the spring bloom in the Arctic Ocean<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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ECLiPse Arctique is a project resulting from the AAP \u00c9mergence which aims to understand the influence of changes in light regimes on the capacity of polar microalgae to sequester and export CO2 fixed by photosynthesis during the spring bloom in the Arctic Ocean (May 2025-May 2027). This project concerns ISblue 1 and 4 research themes<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Context<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Over the last few decades, the Arctic Ocean has been affected by climate change, leading to changes in snow cover on the sea ice and in the thickness of the sea ice. These parameters play a decisive role in the spring bloom and associated carbon flows (aggregation, sedimentation and remineralisation), as well as in the food web that depends on them (zooplankton and benthic organisms).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In polar ecosystems, ice microalgae (sympagics) play a decisive role in the dynamics of primary production, but also in the dynamics of aggregate formation, which controls the flow of sedimentation in the water column. The formation of phytoplankton aggregates is the main driving force behind the oceanic biological carbon pump (BCP). Without the BCP, atmospheric CO2 concentrations would be twice as high as they are today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Global warming, by reducing snow cover and ice thickness during the Arctic spring (April-May, Figure 1), could correspond to a situation closer to June (Figure 1) in terms of light intensity in the sea ice and in the water column. The polar amplification of global warming would therefore favour phytoplankton blooms in the water column earlier in the year, to the detriment of the ice algae that proliferate in the sea ice.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Figure 1: snow depth between April and July 2023 (modelled using Copernicus satellite data)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Problematics<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Will changes in the light regime caused by the early melting of snow on the ice modify the capacity of Arctic pelagic phytoplankton to export carbon through cell aggregation and sedimentation? What would be the consequences for the quality of carbon export fluxes such as sedimentation rate, remineralisation of organic matter and fatty acid composition?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Objectives<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

To address this issue, the ECLiPse project aims to compare :<\/p>\n\n\n\n