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The Southern Ocean is iron (Fe)-limited, and increased fluxes of dust-borne Fe to the Southern Ocean during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) have been associated with phytoplankton growth and CO2 drawdown. Dust contains different mixes of Fe-bearing minerals, depending on the source region. Fe(II) silicate minerals from physical weathering are more bioavailable than Fe(III) oxyhydroxide […]
Read MoreSince the beginning of the industrial revolution, human activities have greatly increased atmospheric CO2 concentrations, leading to global warming and indicating an urgent need to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. The Martin (or iron) hypothesis suggests that ocean iron fertilization (OIF) could be a low-cost effective method for reducing atmospheric CO2 levels by stimulating carbon […]
Read MoreOne of the biggest unsolved mysteries in climate science concerns the dynamics and feedbacks of the ice age carbon dioxide (CO2) cycle. At the height of the Pleistocene ice ages, the atmospheric CO2 concentration was about 1/3 lower than during the warm interglacial periods. Most scientists think that the CO2 that was missing from the […]
Read MoreOxygen minimum zones (OMZs) are thought to be regions of the global ocean where a greater percentage of the organic carbon associated with particles makes it to depth. Currently covering 8% of the world’s ocean area, these low oxygen regions are expected to expand as a result climate change. It is therefore vital to understand […]
Read MoreThe ocean is one of the largest sinks of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) on our planet, driven in part by CO2 uptake by phytoplankton in the upper ocean during photosynthesis. Eventually, a portion of the resulting organic carbon is transported to depth, where it is sequestered from the atmosphere for centuries or even millennia. Our […]
Read MoreWhen designing sampling we make generally accepted assumptions that what we collect is representative of what is “normal” or naturally occurring at the place, time, and depth of collection. However, a recent study in Science Advances revealed that this might not be true. During round-the-clock shipboard sampling, lights used at night can actually be a […]
Read MoreAs one of the major carbon sinks in the global ocean, the North Atlantic is a key player in mediating and ameliorating the ongoing global warming. Current projections of the North Atlantic carbon sink in a high-CO2 future vary greatly among models, with some showing that a slowdown in carbon uptake has already begun and […]
Read MoreThe Southern Ocean dominates the mean global ocean sink for anthropogenic carbon, but its sparse sampling relative to other basins limits our capacity to quantify carbon uptake and accompanying seasonal to interannual variability, which is critical to predicting future ocean carbon uptake and storage. Since 2002, underway pCO2 measurements collected as part of the Drake […]
Read MoreAccording to Martin’s iron hypothesis, input of aeolian dust into the ocean environment temporarily relieves iron limitation that suppresses primary productivity. Asian dust events that originate in the Taklimakan and Gobi Deserts occur primarily in the spring and represent the second largest global source of dust to the oceans. The western North Pacific, where productivity […]
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