Publication Date:
2019-07-13
Description:
Phytoplankton are free-floating algae that grow in the euphotic zone of the upper ocean, converting carbon dioxide, sunlight, and available nutrients into organic carbon through photosynthesis. Despite their microscopic size, these photoautotrophs are responsible for roughly half the net primary production on Earth (NPP; gross primary production minus respiration), fixing atmospheric CO2 into food that fuels our global ocean ecosystems. Phytoplankton thus play a critical role in the global carbon cycle, and their growth patterns are highly sensitive to environmental changes such as increased ocean temperatures that stratify the water column and prohibit the transfer of cold, nutrient richwaters to the upper ocean euphotic zone.
Keywords:
Oceanography; Earth Resources and Remote Sensing
Type:
GSFC-E-DAA-TN8417
,
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: State of the Climate in 2012; 94; 8; S75-S78
Format:
application/pdf
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