About this Research Topic
Because of light’s central role, it is important to understand how global climate and other environmental changes are affecting light in all aquatic environments including inland, coastal, and marine ecosystems. For example, there have been shifts in circulation and stratification related to warming water temperatures and shorter winters, all are altering the underwater light environment. In general, we need a better grasp of both the timing and the magnitude of altered light conditions in aquatic ecosystems on a global scale.
The goal of this Research Topic is to provide a broad overview of how aquatic light environments are changing at present, and how they may change in the future. We encourage submissions that document factors contributing to changes in transparency and the resultant impacts on ecosystem processes in both freshwater and marine environments. Of particular interest are contributions about how the key effects of climate change, including surface warming, increased/decreased runoff & ice melt, variations in cloud cover and wind stress and increased/decreased pH, interact to affect the aquatic light environment. We invite submissions based on field, laboratory, modeling, and predictive studies, investigating both basic and applied research questions related to underwater light.
Keywords: transparency, browning, photosynthetically available radiation, ultraviolet radiation
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.