Our latest paper is now published in Biogeosciences (Vol. 23, pages 831–850): “Assessment of the Cape Blanc (northwest Africa) upwelling ecosystem response to recent climate change, using wavelet analyses on dinoflagellate cyst export.”
This work grew out of a one-year research stay at the University of Bremen, where I had the chance to work side by side with the excellent researchers Karin A. F. Zonneveld, Eldo Roza and Gerard Versteegh.
We used Morlet wavelet analysis on an 18-year sediment-trap record of organic-walled dinoflagellate cysts, together with wind direction, wind speed, Saharan dust input and sea-surface temperature, to see how the Cape Blanc upwelling system off northwest Africa responded to climate variability between 2003 and 2020. The analysis picked out clear half-yearly and yearly cycles and revealed three distinct phases, each with a different dinocyst assemblage, mostly driven by changes in upwelling intensity and dust input. The results show just how tightly linked these wind-driven processes are to the export of dinoflagellate cysts — and how useful they can be as indicators of this ecosystem’s response to regional climate change.
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