OCB Science Highlights

OCB Science Highlights

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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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Role for iron in controlling microbial phosphorus acquisition in the ocean

October 12, 2017

In the subtropical North Atlantic, dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP) concentrations are depleted and might co-limit N2 fixation and microbial productivity. There are relatively large pools of dissolved organic phosphorus (DOP), but microbes need an enzyme to access this P source. One such alkaline phosphatase (APase) enzyme requires zinc (Zn) as its activating cofactor. This has […]

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Arctic surface waters release methane but also absorb 2,000 times the CO2 for a net cooling effect

September 28, 2017

A recent study by Pohlman et al. published in PNAS showed that ocean waters near the surface of the Arctic Ocean absorbed 2,000 times more carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere than the amount of methane released into the atmosphere from the same waters. The study was conducted near Norway’s Svalbard Islands, which overly numerous […]

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Sinking particles as biogeochemical hubs for trace metal cycling and release

September 14, 2017

The extent to which the return of major and minor elements to the dissolved phase in the deep ocean (termed remineralization) is decoupled plays a major role in setting patterns of nutrient limitation in the global ocean. It is well established that major elements such as phosphorus, silicon, and carbon are released at different rates […]

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