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“So, in the sea, there are certain objects concerning which one would be at a loss to determine whether they be animal or vegetable.” Aristotle, The History of Animals Our understanding of marine ecosystems is strongly influenced by the terrestrial macroscopic world we see around us. For example, the distinction between phytoplankton and zooplankton reflects […]
Read MoreCoccolithophores and the carbon cycle Increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations are resulting in both warmer sea surface temperatures due to the greenhouse effect and increasingly carbon-rich surface waters. The ocean has absorbed roughly one third of anthropogenic carbon emissions (1), causing a shift in carbon chemistry equilibrium to more acidic conditions with lower calcium carbonate saturation states […]
Read MoreAround 662 billion tons of organic carbon are dissolved in the ocean, making the pool one of Earth’s major, exchangeable carbon reservoirs. Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) has many ecological functions. It can form complexes with metals (1); absorb UV and visible light, acting as a “sunscreen” for marine microorganisms and controlling primary production in the […]
Read MoreVertical processes are thought to dominate nutrient resupply across the ocean, however estimated vertical fluxes are insufficient to sustain observed net productivity in the thermally stratified subtropical gyres. A recent study by Letscher et al. (2016) published in Nature Geoscience used a global biogeochemical ocean model to quantify the importance of lateral transport and biological […]
Read MoreHaving absorbed ~30% of the carbon dioxide released to the atmosphere by human activities, the oceans play an important role in mitigating warming and other climate-related impacts of rising carbon dioxide levels. Predictions of future climate change thus require more accurate projections of ocean carbon uptake. Using two different model suites, a recent study by […]
Read MoreGEOTRACES and particles in the ocean GEOTRACES is an international program to study the global marine biogeochemical cycles of trace elements and their isotopes (TEIs). The program’s guiding mission is to “identify processes and quantify fluxes that control the distributions of key TEIs in the ocean” (1). Particles represent a key parameter for the GEOTRACES program because of their role […]
Read MoreWe rely on global ocean models to predict how climate change might affect the evolution of ocean productivity, acidification, and deoxygenation (1). Such platforms are also used to test hypotheses regarding the controls on ocean biogeochemical cycling and to understand past change (both on historical and geologic timescales). Ocean biogeochemistry models began with relatively simple formulations of a carbon export flux […]
Read MoreThis summer OCB and GEOTRACES are co-sponsoring a synthesis workshop on the biogeochemical cycling of trace elements in the ocean. The overall goal of the workshop is to bring together expertise from across the field of oceanography to take advantage of the growing datasets of trace elements in the ocean and explore biological-chemical-physical underpinnings of trace element cycling within the ocean. […]
Read MoreIron is a limiting nutrient for phytoplankton in nearly half of the global surface ocean, and much attention has been paid to the biogeochemical cycling of iron in seawater since suitable trace metal-clean sampling and analysis procedures were developed (1). The organic complexation of dissolved iron, in particular, has emerged as an inherent feature of iron chemistry in the oceans (2-5), […]
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