Multi-decadal analysis of phytoplankton biomass and production in the northeast US continental shelf Large Marine Ecosystem

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The northeast U.S. continental shelf Large Marine Ecosystem is a highly productive ecosystem that has experienced a general warming of water temperature since the 1960’s. This dynamic ecosystem spans from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina in the south to the Gulf of Maine. Within the ecosystem are four distinct sub-regions (from south to north: Middle-Atlantic Bight, Southern New England Shelf, Georges Bank and Gulf of Maine) that have different spatial and temporal patterns of phytoplankton biomass and production. Comparisons of annual surface chlorophyll concentrations in the northeast shelf ecosystem from MARMAP shipboard surveys (1977-1988) and ocean color remote sensing data (1997-2008) indicate that surface phytoplankton biomass is greater during the present decade (geometric mean = 1.48 mg m-3) than during the MARMAP period (geometric mean = 1.11 mg m-3).