File:NASA Ocean Data Shows ‘Climate Dance’ of Plankton (15207225358).jpg
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[edit]DescriptionNASA Ocean Data Shows ‘Climate Dance’ of Plankton (15207225358).jpg |
The greens and blues of the ocean color from NASA satellite data have provided new insights into how climate and ecosystem processes affect the growth cycles of phytoplankton—microscopic aquatic plants important for fish populations and Earth’s carbon cycle. At the bottom of the ocean’s food chain, phytoplankton account for roughly half of the net photosynthesis on Earth. Their photosynthesis consumes carbon dioxide and plays a key role in transferring carbon from the atmosphere to the ocean. Unlike the plant ecosystems on land, the amount of phytoplankton in the ocean is always followed closely by the abundance of organisms that eat phytoplankton, creating a perpetual dance between predators and prey. This new analysis shows how tiny imbalances in this predator-prey relationship, caused by environmental variability, give rise to massive phytoplankton blooms, having huge impacts on ocean productivity, fisheries and carbon cycling. The study was released Thursday, Sept. 25, in the journal Nature Climate Change. “The continuous year-in and year-out measurements provided by NASA’s ocean color satellites have dramatically changed our understanding of phytoplankton dynamics on the Earth,” said Mike Behrenfeld, author of the study and phytoplankton ecologist at Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon. “What we now see is a closely linked system of phytoplankton cell division and consumption lying at the heart of the plant’s annual cycle.” Behrenfeld calls this close predator-prey relationship the “Dance of the Plankton.” This view is different from previous perspectives that have simply focused on environmental resources used by phytoplankton to grow, such as nutrients and light. The new view is important because it reveals that tiny imbalances can greatly impact Earth’s ecology. Read more: 1.usa.gov/ZkVMHG |
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Source | NASA Ocean Data Shows ‘Climate Dance’ of Plankton |
Author | NASA Goddard Space Flight Center from Greenbelt, MD, USA |
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NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Norman Kuring; USGS |
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This image was originally posted to Flickr by NASA Goddard Photo and Video at https://flickr.com/photos/24662369@N07/15207225358. It was reviewed on 17 September 2016 by FlickreviewR and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-2.0. |
17 September 2016
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This file is in the public domain in the United States because it was solely created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that "NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted". (See Template:PD-USGov, NASA copyright policy page or JPL Image Use Policy.) | ||
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JPEG file comment | Satellite: Landsat 8
Sensor: OLI Date: 22 September 2014 Description: Bering Sea blooms by the Pribilof Islands Image created by: Norman Kuring |
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