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A study recently published in Nature suggests that an extreme global warming event 56 million years ago known as the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) was driven by massive CO2 emissions from volcanoes during the formation of the North Atlantic Ocean. Using a combination of new geochemical measurements and novel global climate modelling, the study revealed […]
Read MoreUnicellular photosynthetic microbes—phytoplankton—are responsible for virtually all oceanic primary production, which fuels marine food webs and plays a fundamental role in the global carbon cycle. Experiments to date have suggested that the growth of phytoplankton across much of the ocean is limited by either nitrogen or iron. But simultaneously low concentrations of these and other […]
Read MoreSeagrasses have died-off in great numbers, resulting in the release of stored carbon. Seagrasses represent a substantive and relatively unconstrained North American and Caribbean Sea blue carbon sink in the tropical Western Hemisphere. Fine-scale estimates of regional seagrass carbon stocks, as well as carbon fluxes from anthropogenic disturbances and natural processes and gains in sedimentary […]
Read MoreThe ocean’s biological pump works to draw down atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) by exporting carbon from the surface ocean. This process is less efficient at higher temperatures, implying a possible climate feedback. Recent work by Cael et al. provides an explanation of why this feedback occurs and an estimate of its severity. In a highly […]
Read MoreTo accurately assess the impacts of climate change, we need to understand how atmospheric carbon is transported from surface waters to the deep sea. Grazers and filter feeders drive the ocean’s biological pump as they remove and sequester carbon at various rates. This pump extends down into the midwater realm, the largest habitat on earth. […]
Read MoreHow does the enormous diversity of zooplankton species, life cycles, size, feeding ecology, and physiology affect their role in ocean food webs and cycling of carbon? In the 2017 issue of Annual Review of Marine Science, Steinberg and Landry review the fundamental and multifaceted roles that zooplankton play in the cycling and export of carbon […]
Read MoreThe sea surface microlayer (SML) is the boundary interface between the atmosphere and ocean, spanning the uppermost ~1 mm of the ocean. Covering 70% of the Earth’s surface, the SML supports a rich diversity of life, serving as an incubator for eggs and larvae. The SML controls air-sea interactions and serves as an important hotspot […]
Read MoreDongxiao Zhang1,2, Meghan F. Cronin2, Xiaopei Lin3, Ryuichiro Inoue4, Andrea J. Fassbender5, Stuart P. Bishop6, Adrienne Sutton2 1. University of Washington 2. NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory 3. Ocean University of China, China 4. Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Japan 5. Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute 6. North Carolina State University Western […]
Read MoreAlison R. Gray1, Jaime Palter2 1. University of Washington 2. University of Rhode Island Estimates of contemporary global air-sea carbon dioxide (CO2) flux (Takahashi et al. 2009; Landschützer et al. 2014) suggest that subtropical western boundary currents (WBCs) and their zonal extensions are key regions of oceanic carbon uptake (Figure 1a). These narrow, intensified currents, which […]
Read MoreWBC Series Guest Editors: Andrea J. Fassbender1 and Stuart P. Bishop2 1. Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute 2. North Carolina State University Western boundary current (WBC) regions are often studied for their intensity of air-sea interaction and mesoscale variability, yet research addressing the implications of these characteristics for biogeochemical cycling has lagged behind. WBCs, and […]
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