OCB Science Highlights

OCB Science Highlights

If you would like to have your recent publications featured on the OCB website and eNewsletter please contact ocb_news@whoi.edu. View our guidelines for writing a OCB Science Highlight.

Zooplankton play a key and diverse role in the ocean carbon cycle

December 7, 2017

How 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 […]

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The sea surface microlayer in a future ocean

November 28, 2017

The 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 […]

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WBC Series: Observing air-sea interaction in the western boundary currents and their extension regions: Considerations for OceanObs 2019

November 10, 2017

Dongxiao 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 […]

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WBC Series: The role of western boundary current regions in the global carbon cycle

November 10, 2017

Alison 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 […]

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WBC Series: Frontiers in western boundary current research

November 10, 2017

WBC 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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WBC Series: Western boundary currents as conduits for the ejection of anthropogenic carbon from the thermocline

November 10, 2017

Keith B. Rodgers1, Ping Zhai1, Daniele Iudicone2, Olivier Aumont3, Brendan Carter4, Andrea J. Fassbender5, Stephen M. Griffies6, Yves Plancherel7, Laure Resplandy8, Richard D. Slater1, Katsuya Toyama9 1. Princeton University 2. Stazione Anton Dohrn, Italy 3. Sorbonne Universités, LOCEAN/IPSL, France 4. University of Washington 5. Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute 6. NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory […]

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WBC Series: Decadal variability of the Kuroshio Extension system and its impact on subtropical mode water formation 

November 10, 2017

Bo Qiu1, Eitarou Oka2, Stuart P. Bishop3, Shuiming Chen1, Andrea J. Fassbender4 1. University of Hawaii at Manoa 2. The University of Tokyo 3. North Carolina State University 4. Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute   After separating from the Japanese coast at 36°N, 141°E, the Kuroshio enters the open basin of the North Pacific, where it […]

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WBC Series: Fine-scale biophysical controls on nutrient supply, phytoplankton community structure, and carbon export in western boundary current regions

November 10, 2017

Sophie Clayton1, Peter Gaube1, Takeyoshi Nagai2, Melissa M. Omand3, Makio Honda4 1. University of Washington 2. Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, Japan 3. University of Rhode Island 4. Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Japan Western boundary current (WBC) regions are largely thought to be hotspots of productivity, biodiversity, and carbon export. […]

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The Ross Sea deep microbial community’s role in sequestering CO2

November 9, 2017

Antarctic shelf systems generate the densest waters in the world. These shelf waters are the building blocks of Antarctic Bottom Water, the ocean’s abyssal water mass. These bottom waters have the potential to sequester carbon out of the atmosphere for millennia. One such form of marine carbon is dissolved organic carbon (DOC). DOC is produced […]

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Phytoplankton increase projected for the Ross Sea in response to climate change

October 26, 2017

How will phytoplankton respond to climate changes over the next century in the Ross Sea, the most productive coastal waters of Antarctica? Model projections of physical conditions suggest substantial environmental changes in this region, but associated impacts on Ross Sea biology, specifically phytoplankton, remain unclear. In a recent study, Kaufman et al (2017) generated and […]

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