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Impacts on the deep-sea ecosystem by a severe coastal storm
- Source :
- PLoS ONE, PLoS ONE, Vol 7, Iss 1, p e30395 (2012), ResearcherID, PLoS ONE 2012;7(1):e30395, UCrea Repositorio Abierto de la Universidad de Cantabria, Universidad de Cantabria (UC), Dipòsit Digital de la UB, Universidad de Barcelona, Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya, instname, Digital.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
- Publication Year :
- 2012
- Publisher :
- PLoS, 2012.
-
Abstract
- 7 páginas, 4 figuras.<br />Major coastal storms, associated with strong winds, high waves and intensified currents, and occasionally with heavy rains and flash floods, are mostly known because of the serious damage they can cause along the shoreline and the threats they pose to navigation. However, there is a profound lack of knowledge on the deep-sea impacts of severe coastal storms. Concurrent measurements of key parameters along the coast and in the deep-sea are extremely rare. Here we present a unique data set showing how one of the most extreme coastal storms of the last decades lashing the Western Mediterranean Sea rapidly impacted the deep-sea ecosystem. The storm peaked the 26th of December 2008 leading to the remobilization of a shallow-water reservoir of marine organic carbon associated with fine particles and resulting in its redistribution across the deep basin. The storm also initiated the movement of large amounts of coarse shelf sediment, which abraded and buried benthic communities. Our findings demonstrate, first, that severe coastal storms are highly efficient in transporting organic carbon from shallow water to deep water, thus contributing to its sequestration and, second, that natural, intermittent atmospheric drivers sensitive to global climate change have the potential to tremendously impact the largest and least known ecosystem on Earth, the deep-sea ecosystem.
- Subjects :
- 0106 biological sciences
Geologic Sediments
Time Factors
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
Storms
Oceans and Seas
Rain
Tempestats
lcsh:Medicine
Marine and Aquatic Sciences
Biology
Oceanography
01 natural sciences
Deep sea
Ecologia marina
Carbon Cycle
Marine ecology
Mediterranean sea
Oceans
Flash flood
Marine ecosystem
Ecosystem
14. Life underwater
Costes
lcsh:Science
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Shore
geography
Multidisciplinary
geography.geographical_feature_category
Ecology
Cyclonic Storms
010604 marine biology & hydrobiology
lcsh:R
Global warming
Storm
nord-oest) [MediterrĂ nia (Mar]
Coasts
Geochemistry
13. Climate action
Mediterranean Sea (northwest)
Earth Sciences
lcsh:Q
Marine Geology
Research Article
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- PLoS ONE, PLoS ONE, Vol 7, Iss 1, p e30395 (2012), ResearcherID, PLoS ONE 2012;7(1):e30395, UCrea Repositorio Abierto de la Universidad de Cantabria, Universidad de Cantabria (UC), Dipòsit Digital de la UB, Universidad de Barcelona, Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya, instname, Digital.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....aaf61a87e3dbe55222e75b15a56be2b1