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Temporal Variations in the Photosynthetic BiosphereIn this report, we describe results from the first three years of global Sea-Viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) ocean chlorophyll and land plant measurements. This time period covered the end of one of the largest El Nino events in the past century and a strong La Nina. During this transition, terrestrial plant photosynthesis exhibited only a small change, whereas a significant increase in oceanic photosynthesis was observed. Latitudinal distributions of ocean production indicated that this increase in photosynthesis during the La Nina was distributed in the equatorial belt as well as in high production areas. The analysis also illustrated the large 'missing bloom' in ocean phytoplankton in the southern ocean. While land photosynthesis remained fairly steady during the third year of SeaWiFS measurements, ocean phytoplankton production continued to increase, albeit at a lower rate than from 1997 to 1999. Our results represent the first quantification of interannual variability in global scale ocean productivity. Significant Findings: An increase in ocean production during the first three years of the SeaWiFS mission; a strong hemispheric difference in the latitudinal distribution of ocean photosynthesis.
Document ID
20010014868
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
Authors
Behrenfeld, Michael (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Randerson, James (California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA United States)
McClain, Charles (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Feldman, Gene (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Los, Sietse (Science Systems and Applications, Inc. Greenbelt, MD United States)
Tucker, Compton (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Falkowski, Paul (State Univ. of New Jersey New Brunswick, NJ United States)
Field, Christopher (Carnegie Institution of Washington Stanford, CA United States)
Frouin, Robert (Scripps Institution of Oceanography La Jolla, CA United States)
Esaias, Wayne (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Kolber, Dorota (Carnegie Institution of Washington Stanford, CA United States)
Pollack, Nathan (Hughes STX, Inc. Greenbelt, MD United States)
Zukor, Dorothy J.
Date Acquired
September 7, 2013
Publication Date
October 17, 2000
Subject Category
Life Sciences (General)
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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