ALBERT

Description: From the aerial parts of Putoria calabrica, two new flavonol triglycosides were isolated and their structures were elucidated as quercetin-3-O-[α-l-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→2)-α-l-arabinopyranoside]-7-O-β-d-glucopyranoside (1, calabricoside A) and quercetin-3-O-[4‘ ‘‘-O-caffeoyl-α-l-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→2)-α-l-arabinopyranoside]-7-O-β-d-glucopyranoside (2, calabricoside B). Additionally, seven iridoid and three lignan glycosides were isolated and characterized. Radical scavenging activities of all compounds were determined by quantifying their effects on luminol-enhanced chemiluminescence in formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (FMLP) stimulated human polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs). Calabricoside A and B showed strong radical scavenging activity with IC50 values of 0.25 and 0.3 μM, respectively.

Description: Parameterizations of single scattering properties currently used in cloud resolving and general circulation models are somewhat limited in that they typically assume the presence of single particle habits, do not adequately account for the numbers of ice crystals with diameters smaller than 100 μm, and contain no information about the variance of parameterization coefficients. Here, new parameterizations of mean single scattering properties (e.g., single scatter albedo, asymmetry parameter, and extinction efficiency) for distributions of ice crystals in tropical anvils are developed. Using information about the size and shape of ice crystals acquired by a two-dimensional cloud probe during the Central Equatorial Pacific Experiment (CEPEX), a self-organized neural network defines shape based on simulations of how the particle maximum dimension and area ratio (ratio of projected area to that of circumscribed circle with maximum dimension) vary for random orientations of different idealized shapes (i.e., columns, bullet rosettes, rough aggregates, and particles represented by Chebyshev polynomials). The size distributions for ice crystals smaller than 100 μm are based on parameterizations developed using representative samples of 11 633 crystals imaged by a video ice particle sampler (VIPS). The mean-scattering properties for distributions of ice crystals are then determined by weighting the single scattering properties of individual ice crystals, determined using an improved geometric ray-tracing method, according to number concentration and scattering cross section. The featureless nature of the calculated phase function, averaged over all observed sizes and shapes of ice crystals, is similar to that obtained using other schemes designed to account for variations in sizes and shapes of ice crystals. The new parameterizations of single scatter albedo, asymmetry parameter, and extinction efficiency are then determined by functional fits in terms of cloud particle effective radius; there was no statistically significant dependence on either ice water content or temperature. Uncertainty estimates incorporated into the parameterization coefficients are based upon a Monte Carlo approach. Comparisons with previously used parameterizations and with parameterizations developed using single crystal habits are made to show that the determination of representative crystal habits is still a major unknown in the development of parameterization schemes.

Description: To what extent was the Arctic Ocean glaciated in the past? Heavily, according to data, gathered by a submarine, which show considerable ice-scouring of topography in parts of the ocean basin

Description: Recently, Hilmer and Jung have shown that the wintertime link between the North Atlantic oscillation (NAO) and the sea ice export through Fram Strait changed from zero correlation (1958–77) to about 0.7 (1978–97) during the last four decades. In the current study, the authors focus on the question of how the two phenomena are linked in a long-term context during wintertime (December–March). This is done on a statistical basis using data from a century-scale control integration of the coupled general circulation model ECHAM4–OPYC3 along with historical sea level pressure data for the period 1908–97. From the results of this study there is less indication that a significant link on interannual and decadal timescales between the NAO and the sea ice export through Fram Strait is a characteristic property of the climate system—at least under present-day climate conditions. This missing link can be explained by a vanishing net impact of the NAO on sea ice thickness as well as sea ice drift near Fram Strait and thus the sea ice volume export through Fram Strait. It is argued that the spatial pattern of interannual NAO variability as observed during the last two decades of the twentieth century is unusual and so is the high correlation between the NAO and Arctic sea ice export for the period 1978–97.

Description: The Baltic Sea Experiment (BALTEX) is one of the five continental–scale experiments of the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX). More than 50 research groups from 14 European countries are participating in this project to measure and model the energy and water cycle over the large drainage basin of the Baltic Sea in northern Europe. BALTEX aims to provide a better understanding of the processes of the climate system and to improve and to validate the water cycle in regional numerical models for weather forecasting and climate studies. A major effort is undertaken to couple interactively the atmosphere with the vegetated continental surfaces and the Baltic Sea including its sea ice. The intensive observational and modeling phase BRIDGE, which is a contribution to the Coordinated Enhanced Observing Period of GEWEX, will provide enhanced datasets for the period October 1999–February 2002 to validate numerical models and satellite products. Major achievements have been obtained in an improved understanding of related exchange processes. For the first time an interactive atmosphere–ocean–land surface model for the Baltic Sea was tested. This paper reports on major activities and some results.

Description: A model of the Atlantic Ocean was forced with decadal-scale time series of surface fluxes taken from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction–National Center for Atmospheric Research reanalysis. The bulk of the variability of the oceanic circulation is found to be related to the North Atlantic oscillation (NAO). Both realistic experiments and idealized sensitivity studies with the model show a fast (intraseasonal timescale) barotropic response and a delayed (timescale about 6–8 yr) baroclinic oceanic response to the NAO. The fast response to a high NAO constitutes a barotropic anticyclonic circulation anomaly near the subpolar front with a substantial decrease of the northward heat transport and an increase of northward heat transport in the subtropics due to changes in Ekman transport. The delayed response is an increase in subpolar heat transport due to enhanced meridional overturning and due to a spinup of the subpolar gyre. The corresponding subpolar and subtropical heat content changes could in principle act as an immediate positive feedback and a delayed negative feedback to the NAO.

Description: The onset of the Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum (about 55 Myr ago) was marked by global surface temperatures warming by 5–7 °C over approximately 30,000 yr (ref. 1), probably because of enhanced mantle outgassing2, 3 and the pulsed release of approx1,500 gigatonnes of methane carbon from decomposing gas-hydrate reservoirs4, 5, 6, 7. The aftermath of this rapid, intense and global warming event may be the best example in the geological record of the response of the Earth to high atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and high temperatures. This response has been suggested to include an intensified flux of organic carbon from the ocean surface to the deep ocean and its subsequent burial through biogeochemical feedback mechanisms8. Here we present firm evidence for this view from two ocean drilling cores, which record the largest accumulation rates of biogenic barium—indicative of export palaeoproductivity—at times of maximum global temperatures and peak excursion values of delta13C. The unusually rapid return of delta13C to values similar to those before the methane release7 and the apparent coupling of the accumulation rates of biogenic barium to temperature, suggests that the enhanced deposition of organic matter to the deep sea may have efficiently cooled this greenhouse climate by the rapid removal of excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Description: Living coelacanths (Latimeria chalumnae) are normally found only in the western Indian Ocean, where they inhabit submarine caves in the Comores Islands. Two specimens have since been caught off the island of Manado Tua, north Sulawesi, Indonesia, some 10,000 kilometres away. We sought to determine the ecological and geographic distribution of Indonesian coelacanth populations with a view to drawing up conservation measures for this extremely rare fish. During our explorations, we discovered two living Indonesian coelacanths 360 km southwest of Manado Tua.

Description: Bottom water temperatures in the central Greenland Sea have been increasing for the last two decades. The warming is most likely related to the absence of deep convective mixing, which cools and freshens the deep water. However, recent observations confirm a slow and steady increase of anthropogenic tracers such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). This points to some amount of bottom water “ventilation” in the absence of deep convective mixing and poses a challenge to our understanding of deep water renewal. One explanation for the observed trends in both temperature and CFCs is significant vertical mixing. The basin-averaged diapycnal diffusivity, required to explain both trends, kυ,av 2–3 (×10−3 m2 s−1), is very unlikely to occur in the interior of the ocean. However, a diffusivity of kυ,bbl 10−2 m2 s−1 within a 150-m thick bottom boundary layer would be sufficient to explain the deep tracer increase. The implications of a secondary circulation driven by such large boundary layer mixing are discussed.

Description: The World Ocean Circulation Experiment has established Lagrangian observations with neutrally buoyant floats as a routine tool in the study of deep-sea currents. Here a novel variant of the well-proven RAFOS concept for seeding floats at locations where they can be triggered on a timed basis is introduced. This cost-effective method obviates the need to revisit sites with a high-priced research vessel each time floats are to be deployed. It enables multiple Lagrangian time series, for example, for the observation of intermediate point sources of water masses, which are independent but have identical start points. This can be done even in environmentally challenging regions such as below the ice. The successfully tested autonomous float park concept does not rely on a release carousel moored on the seafloor. Instead, a second release was added to the standard RAFOS float for optional delay of regular drift missions. A float park can easily be installed by a conductivity–temperature–depth recorder system with a slightly modified rosette sampler.

Description: A new approach based on statistical estimation is proposed for the analysis of tomographic traveltime data in cases of significant nonlinear dependence of the traveltimes on the sound-speed variations. Traditional tomography schemes based on linear perturbative inversions about a single, a priori fixed background state cannot properly handle such cases since the linearized model relations will lead to considerable inversion errors, depending on the extent of nonlinearity. In contrast, the background state is considered here as a variable unknown quantity to be estimated from the traveltime data, simultaneously with the peak identification function and the sound-speed perturbation. Using the maximum likelihood approach and the Gaussian assumption, the statistical estimation problem reduces to a weighted least squares problem to be solved simultaneously for the three unknown quantities. A posteriori inversion-error estimates are derived accounting also for uncertainties in the background selection and the peak identification. The proposed method is applied to nine-month-long traveltime data from the Thetis-2 experiment, conducted from January to October 1994 in the Western Mediterranean Sea, where the variability of the ocean environment gives rise to significant nonlinear dependencies between sound-speed and traveltime variations. The recovered temporal variability and stratification compare well with independent XBT observations.

Description: Numerical experiments are performed to examine the causes of variability of Atlantic Ocean SST during the period covered by the National Centers for Environmental Prediction-National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP-NCAR) reanalysis (1958-98). Three ocean models are used. Two are mixed layer models: one with a 75-m-deep mixed layer and the other with a variable depth mixed layer. For both mixed layer models the ocean heat transports are assumed to remain at their diagnosed climatological values. The third model is a full dynamical ocean general circulation model (GCM). All models are coupled to a model of the subcloud atmospheric mixed layer (AML). The AML model computes the air temperature and humidity by balancing surface fluxes, radiative cooling, entrainment at cloud base, advection and eddy heat, and moisture transports. The models are forced with NCEP-NCAR monthly mean winds from 1958 to 1998. The ocean mixed layer models adequately reproduce the dominant pattern of Atlantic Ocean climate variability in both its spatial pattern and time dependence. This pattern is the familiar tripole of alternating zonal bands of SST anomalies stretching between the subpolar gyre and the subtropics. This SST pattern goes along with a wind pattern that corresponds to the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Analysis of the results reveals that changes in wind speed create the subtropical SST anomalies while at higher latitudes changes in advection of temperature and humidity and changes in atmospheric eddy fluxes are important. An observational analysis of the boundary layer energy balance is also performed. Anomalous atmospheric eddy heat fluxes are very closely tied to the SST anomalies. Anomalous horizontal eddy fluxes damp the SST anomalies while anomalous vertical eddy fluxes tend to cool the entire midlatitude North Atlantic during the NAO's high-index phase with the maximum cooling exactly where the SST gradient is strengthened the most. The SSTs simulated by the ocean mixed layer model are compared with those simulated by the dynamic ocean GCM. In the far North Atlantic Ocean anomalous ocean heat transports are equally important as surface fluxes in generating SST anomalies and they act constructively. The anomalous heat transports are associated with anomalous Ekman drifts and are consequently in phase with the changing surface fluxes. Elsewhere changes in surface fluxes dominate over changes in ocean heat transport. These results suggest that almost all of the variability of the North Atlantic SST in the last four decades can be explained as a response to changes in surface fluxes caused by changes in the atmospheric circulation. Changes in the mean atmospheric circulation force the SST while atmospheric eddy fluxes dampen the SST. Both the interannual variability and the longer timescale changes can be explained in this way. While the authors were unable to find evidence for changes in ocean heat transport systematically leading or lagging development of SST anomalies, this leaves open the problem of explaining the causes of the low-frequency variability. Possible causes are discussed with reference to the modeling results.

Description: The horizontal and vertical structure of large-amplitude internal solitary waves propagating in stratified waters on a continental shelf is investigated by analyzing the results of numerical simulations and in situ measurements. Numerical simulations aimed at obtaining stationary, solitary wave solutions of different amplitudes were carried out using a nonstationary model based on the incompressible two-dimensional Euler equations in the frame of the Boussinesq approximation. The numerical solutions, which refer to different density stratifications typical for midlatitude continental shelves, were obtained by letting an initial disturbance evolve according to the numerical model. Several intriguing characteristics of the structure of the simulated large-amplitude internal solitary waves like, for example, wavelength–amplitude and phase speed–amplitude relationship as well as form of the locus of zero horizontal velocity emerge, consistent with those obtained previously using stationary Euler models. The authors’ approach, which tends to exclude unstable oceanic internal solitary waves as they are filtered out during the evolution process, was also employed to perform a detailed comparison between model results and characteristics of large-amplitude internal solitary waves found in high-resolution in situ data acquired north and south of the Strait of Messina, in the Mediterranean Sea. From this comparison the importance of using higher-order theoretical models for a detailed description of large-amplitude internal solitary waves observed in the real ocean emerge. Implications of the results showing the complexity related to a possible inversion of sea surface manifestations of oceanic internal solitary waves into characteristics of the interior ocean dynamics are finally discussed.

Description: The circulation of the low-salinity Antarctic Intermediate Water in the South Atlantic and the associated dynamical processes are studied, using recent and historical hydrographic profiles, Lagrangian and Eulerian current measurements as well as wind stress observations. The circulation pattern inferred for the Antarctic Intermediate Water supports the hypothesis of an anticyclonic basinwide recirculation of the intermediate water in the subtropics. The eastward current of the intermediate anticyclone is fed mainly by water recirculated in the Brazil Current and by the Malvinas Current. An additional source region is the Polar Frontal zone of the South Atlantic. The transport in the meandering eastward current ranges from 6 to 26 Sv (Sv = 10(6) m(3) s(-1)). The transport of the comparably uniform westward flow of the gyre varies between 10 and 30 Sv. Both transports vary with longitude. At the western boundary near 28 degreesS, in the Santos Bifurcation, the westward current splits into two branches. About three-quarters of the 19 Sv at 40 degreesW go south as an intermediate western boundary current. The remaining quarter flows northward along the western boundary. Simulations with a simple model of the ventilated thermocline reveal that the wind-driven subtropical gyre has a vertical extent of over 1200 m. The transports derived from the simulations suggest that about 90% of the transport in the westward branch of the intermediate gyre and about 50% of the transport in the eastward branch can be attributed to the wind-driven circulation. The structure of the simulated gyre deviates from observations to some extent. The discrepancies between the simulations and the observations are most likely caused by the interoceanic exchange south of Africa, the dynamics of the boundary currents, the nonlinearity, and the seasonal variability of the wind field. A simulation with an inflow/outflow condition for the eastern boundary reduces the transport deviations in the eastward current to about 20%. The results support the hypothesis that the wind field is of major importance for the subtropical circulation of Antarctic Intermediate Water followed by the interoceanic exchange. The simulations suggest that the westward transport in the subtropical gyre undergoes seasonal variations. The transports and the structure of the intermediate subtropical gyre from the Parallel Ocean Climate Model (Semtner-Chervin model) agree better with observations.

Description: Birds taking time off from breeding head for their favourite long-haul destinations. What oceanic seabirds do outside their breeding periods is something of a mystery, although altogether these "sabbaticals' add up to more than half of their lifetime and are probably a key feature of their life history. Here we use geolocation systems based on light-intensity measurements to show that during these periods wandering albatrosses (Diomedea exulans) leave the foraging grounds that they frequent while breeding for specific, individual oceanic sectors and spend the rest of the year there — each bird probably returns to the same area throughout its life. This discovery of individual home-range preferences outside the breeding season has important implications for the conservation of albatrosses threatened by the development of longline fisheries.

Description: Analyses of annual mean sea surface temperatures (SST) from observations for the period 1903–94 and four different general circulation models (GCMs) were conducted. The two dominant EOFs of all datasets are characterized by two patterns, which are centered in the trade wind zones, at roughly 15°N and 15°S, respectively. The two patterns are uncorrelated at any lag and the time spectra of the corresponding principle components are consistent with red noise. The SST variability is strongly correlated with wind stress anomalies in the trade wind zones. The correlations between the wind stress and the SST, as well as the correlation between the net heat flux and the SST anomalies are consistent with the assumption that the variability of the upper tropical Atlantic Ocean is forced by the atmosphere. Dynamic feedbacks of the tropical Atlantic Ocean are less important. The variability in the trade wind zones shows a weak correlation with the ENSO mode in the tropical Pacific.

Description: Most global climate models simulate a weakening of the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation (THC) in response to enhanced greenhouse warming. Both surface warming and freshening in high latitudes, the so-called sinking region, contribute to the weakening of the THC. Some models even simulate a complete breakdown of the THC at sufficiently strong forcing. Here results are presented from a state-of-the-art global climate model that does not simulate a weakening of the THC in response to greenhouse warming. Large-scale air–sea interactions in the Tropics, similar to those operating during present-day El Niños, lead to anomalously high salinities in the tropical Atlantic. These are advected into the sinking region, thereby increasing the surface density and compensating the effects of the local warming and freshening.

Description: Connections between the tropical and midlatitude Pacific on decadal timescales are examined using a 137-yr run of a fully coupled ocean–atmosphere general circulation model. It is shown that the model does a credible job of simulating both ENSO-scale and decadal-scale variability, and that there are statistically significant correlations between the midlatitudes and Tropics on decadal timescales. Three physical mechanisms linking the regions are examined: 1) Oceanic advection along isopycnal surfaces from the midlatitude subduction regions to the Tropics, 2) coastally trapped or Kelvin wave propagation between the Tropics and midlatitudes, and 3) near-simultaneous communication between the regions affected by changes in the atmosphere. It is found that communication via the atmosphere explains the strongest correlations found in the model. Further evidence is presented that is consistent with the idea that midlatitude sea surface temperature anomalies drive changes in the trade wind system that alter the east–west slope of the tropical thermocline, thereby effecting decadal-timescale changes in ENSO activity.

Description: The interannual variability of the Indian Ocean SST is investigated by analyzing data from observations and an integration of a global coupled GCM (CGCM) ECHO-2. First, it is demonstrated that the CGCM is capable of producing realistic tropical climate variability. Second, it is shown that a considerable part of the interannual variability in Indian Ocean SST can be described as the response to interannual fluctuations over the Pacific related to ENSO. Although the Indian Ocean region also exhibits ENSO-independent interannual variability, this paper focuses on the ENSO-induced component only. Large-scale SST anomalies of the same sign as those observed in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean during ENSO extremes develop in the entire tropical and subtropical Indian Ocean with a time lag of about 4 months. This lead–lag relationship is found in both the observations and the CGCM. Using the CGCM output, it is shown that the ENSO signal is carried into the Indian Ocean mainly through anomalous surface heat fluxes.

Description: The Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) was established to study and intercompare climate simulations made with coupled ocean-atmosphere-cryosphere-land GCMs. There are two main phases (CMIP1 and CMIP2), which study, respectively, 1) the ability of models to simulate current climate, and 2) model simulations of climate change due to an idealized change in forcing (a 1% per year CO2 increase). Results from a number of CMIP projects were reported at the first CMIP Workshop held in Melbourne, Australia, in October 1998. Some recent advances in global coupled modeling related to CMIP were also reported. Presentations were based on preliminary unpublished results. Key outcomes from the workshop were that 1) many observed aspects of climate variability are simulated in global coupled models including the North Atlantic oscillation and its linkages to North Atlantic SSTs, El Niño-like events, and monsoon interannual variability; 2) the amplitude of both high- and low-frequency global mean surface temperature variability in many global coupled models is less than that observed, with the former due in part to simulated ENSO in the models being generally weaker than observed, and the latter likely to be at least partially due to the uncertainty in the estimates of past radiative forcing; 3) an El Niño-like pattern in the mean SST response with greater surface warming in the eastern equatorial Pacific than the western equatorial Pacific is found by a number of models in global warming climate change experiments, but other models have a more spatially uniform or even a La Niña-like, response; 4) flux adjustment, by definition, improves the simulation of mean present-day climate over oceans, does not guarantee a drift-free climate, but can produce a stable base state in some models to enable very long term (1000 yr and longer) integrations-in these models it does not appear to have a major effect on model processes or model responses to increasing CO2; and 5) recent multicentury integrations show that a stable surface climate can be attained without flux adjustment (though still with some systematic simulation errors).

Description: The response of the Max Planck Institutes ECHAM3 atmospheric general circulation model to a prescribed decade-long positive anomaly in sea surface temperatures (SSTs) over the North Atlantic is investigated. Two 10-yr realizations of the anomaly experiment are compared against a 100-yr control run of the model with seasonally varying climatological SST using a model spatial resolution of T42. In addition to the time-mean response, particular attention is paid to changes in intraseasonal variability, expressed in terms of North Atlantic?European weather regimes. The model regimes are quite realistic. Substantial differences are found in the 700-mb geopotential height field response between the two decadal realizations. The time-mean response in the first sample decade is characterized by the positive (zonal) phase of the North Atlantic oscillation (NAO); this response can be identified with changes in the frequency of occurrence of certain weather regimes by about one standard deviation. (Preliminary results of this numerical experiment were reported at the Atlantic Climate Variability Workshop held at the Lamont?Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York, 24?26 September 1997.) By contrast, the second SST anomaly decade shows a localized trough centered over the British Isles; it projects less strongly onto the models intrinsic weather regimes. The control run itself exhibits pronounced decade-to-decade variations in the weather regimes frequency of occurrence as well as in its NAO index. The two 10-yr anomaly experiments are insufficient, in length and number, to identify a robust SST response above this level of intrinsic variability.

Description: A new iridoid glucoside, 5β,6β-dihydroxyboschnaloside (1), was isolated from the aerial parts of Euphrasia pectinata. Five known iridoid glucosides, 6β-hydroxyboschnaloside (2), aucubin, euphroside, plantarenaloside, and geniposidic acid, and two known phenylethanoid glycosides, verbascoside (= acteoside) and leucosceptoside A, were also obtained and characterized. The structure of compound 1 was established by spectroscopic evidence.

Description: Living coelacanths (Latimeria chalumnae) are normally found only in the western Indian Ocean, where they inhabit submarine caves in the Comores Islands1. Two specimens have since been caught off the island of Manado Tua, north Sulawesi, Indonesia, some 10,000 kilometres away2. We sought to determine the ecological and geographic distribution of Indonesian coelacanth populations with a view to drawing up conservation measures for this extremely rare fish2,3. During our explorations, we discovered two living Indonesian coelacanths 360 km southwest of Manado Tua.

Description: Book review of: The Change in the Weather: People, Weather, and the Science of Climate by William K. Stevens Delacorte: 2000. 432 pp. $24.95

Description: Changes in iron supply to oceanic plankton are thought to have a significant effect on concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide by altering rates of carbon sequestration, a theory known as the 'iron hypothesis'. For this reason, it is important to understand the response of pelagic biota to increased iron supply. Here we report the results of a mesoscale iron fertilization experiment in the polar Southern Ocean, where the potential to sequester iron-elevated algal carbon is probably greatest. Increased iron supply led to elevated phytoplankton biomass and rates of photosynthesis in surface waters, causing a large drawdown of carbon dioxide and macronutrients, and elevated dimethyl sulphide levels after 13 days. This drawdown was mostly due to the proliferation of diatom stocks. But downward export of biogenic carbon was not increased. Moreover, satellite observations of this massive bloom 30 days later, suggest that a sufficient proportion of the added iron was retained in surface waters. Our findings demonstrate that iron supply controls phytoplankton growth and community composition during summer in these polar Southern Ocean waters, but the fate of algal carbon remains unknown and depends on the interplay between the processes controlling export, remineralisation and timescales of water mass subduction.

Description: A large fraction of globally produced methane is converted to CO2 by anaerobic oxidation in marine sediments. Strong geochemical evidence for net methane consumption in anoxic sediments is based on methane profiles, radiotracer experiments and stable carbon isotope data. But the elusive microorganisms mediating this reaction have not yet been isolated, and the pathway of anaerobic oxidation of methane is insufficiently understood. Recent data suggest that certain archaea reverse the process of methanogenesis by interaction with sulphate-reducing bacteria. Here we provide microscopic evidence for a structured consortium of archaea and sulphate-reducing bacteria, which we identified by fluorescence in situ hybridization using specific 16S rRNA-targeted oligonucleotide probes. In this example of a structured archaeal-bacterial symbiosis, the archaea grow in dense aggregates of about 100 cells and are surrounded by sulphate-reducing bacteria. These aggregates were abundant in gas-hydrate-rich sediments with extremely high rates of methane-based sulphate reduction, and apparently mediate anaerobic oxidation of methane.

Description: The formation of calcareous skeletons by marine planktonic organisms and their subsequent sinking to depth generates a continuous rain of calcium carbonate to the deep ocean and underlying sediments1. This is important in regulating marine carbon cycling and ocean–atmosphere CO2 exchange2. The present rise in atmospheric CO2 levels3 causes significant changes in surface ocean pH and carbonate chemistry4. Such changes have been shown to slow down calcification in corals and coralline macroalgae5,6, but the majority of marine calcification occurs in planktonic organisms. Here we report reduced calcite production at increased CO2 concentrations in monospecific cultures of two dominant marine calcifying phytoplankton species, the coccolithophorids Emiliania huxleyi and Gephyrocapsa oceanica . This was accompanied by an increased proportion of malformed coccoliths and incomplete coccospheres. Diminished calcification led to a reduction in the ratio of calcite precipitation to organic matter production. Similar results were obtained in incubations of natural plankton assemblages from the north Pacific ocean when exposed to experimentally elevated CO2 levels. We suggest that the progressive increase in atmospheric CO2 concentrations may therefore slow down the production of calcium carbonate in the surface ocean. As the process of calcification releases CO2 to the atmosphere, the response observed here could potentially act as a negative feedback on atmospheric CO2 levels.