Marine Scientists Find Whirlpool Role in Ocean Carbon Sink, Media Report
The National Science Foundation, Hydro International, Science 2.0 and Phys.org reported on new research related to the North Atlantic Bloom, when millions of phytoplankton use sunlight and carbon dioxide (CO2) to grow and reproduce at the ocean’s surface. When phytoplankton die, the carbon dioxide in their cells sinks. “But we wanted to find out what’s happening to the smaller, nonsinking phytoplankton cells from the bloom. Understanding the dynamics of the bloom and what happens to the carbon produced by it is important, especially for being able to predict how the oceans will affect atmospheric CO2 and ultimately climate,” said scientist Melissa Omand of the University of Rhode Island, co-author of a paper about the North Atlantic Bloom published in the journal Science. University of Maine Darling Marine Center researchers Mary Jane Perry, Ivona Cetinić and Nathan Briggs were part of the team with Omand, Amala Mahadevan of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Eric D’Asaro and Craig Lee of the University of Washington that did just that. They discovered the significant role that swirling currents, or eddies, play in pushing nonsinking carbon to ocean depths. “I feel that this project is a wonderful example of the chance discovery of an important process in the ocean carbon cycle,” Perry said.