A negative biological Indian Ocean dipole event in 2022

Abstract

The biological dipole mode index (BDMI) showed a negative biological Indian Ocean dipole (BIOD) event occurred in the Equatorial Indian Ocean with the corresponding BIOD index BDMI(Ratio) at − 0.31 in October 2022. The chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) ratio (or Chl-a anomaly) between Chl-a in October 2022 and October Chl-a climatology from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) showed negative dipolar features with the depressed and enhanced Chl-a in the east and west IOD zones, respectively. During this negative BIOD event, Chl-a ratio dropped to ~ 0.4–0.5 in the offshore region of the west Sumatra Coast in the east IOD zone, while it increased to ~ 1.5–1.6 in the northern west IOD zone. Temporal variations of the longitudinal averaged Chl-a ratio and the 20 °C isothermal (ISO20) depth anomaly generally coincided and collocated with each other. The positive and negative BIOD events in 2019 and 2022, respectively, were attributed to the nutrient dynamics driven by the physical dynamics in these two phases of IOD events. In the negative BIOD event in 2022, the depressed Chl-a in the east IOD zone was attributed to low sea surface nutrient levels due to dampened upwelling and deepened thermocline, while anomalously high Chl-a in the west IOD zone were driven by higher sea surface nutrient concentrations caused by the surface water divergence and shoaling thermocline.