Floats with bio-optical sensors reveal what processes trigger the North Atlantic bloom
The North Atlantic bloom corresponds to a strong seasonal increase in phytoplankton that produces organic carbon through photosynthesis. It is still debated what physical and biological conditions trigger the bloom, because comprehensive time series of the vertical distribution of phytoplankton biom...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
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Nature Publishing Group
2018
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/115264 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3298-8055 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3736-1956 |
| _version_ | 1826188019802046464 |
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| author | Claustre, H. Mignot, Alexandre Ferrari, Raffaele |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Claustre, H. Mignot, Alexandre Ferrari, Raffaele |
| author_sort | Claustre, H. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | The North Atlantic bloom corresponds to a strong seasonal increase in phytoplankton that produces organic carbon through photosynthesis. It is still debated what physical and biological conditions trigger the bloom, because comprehensive time series of the vertical distribution of phytoplankton biomass are lacking. Vertical profiles from nine floats that sampled the waters of the North Atlantic every few days for a couple of years reveal that phytoplankton populations start growing in early winter at very weak rates. A proper bloom with rapidly accelerating population growth rates instead starts only in spring when atmospheric cooling subsides and the mixed layer rapidly shoals. While the weak accumulation of phytoplankton in winter is crucial to maintaining a viable population, the spring bloom dominates the overall seasonal production of organic carbon. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T07:53:22Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/115264 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T07:53:22Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | Nature Publishing Group |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1152642022-09-23T09:26:14Z Floats with bio-optical sensors reveal what processes trigger the North Atlantic bloom Claustre, H. Mignot, Alexandre Ferrari, Raffaele Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Mignot, Alexandre Ferrari, Raffaele The North Atlantic bloom corresponds to a strong seasonal increase in phytoplankton that produces organic carbon through photosynthesis. It is still debated what physical and biological conditions trigger the bloom, because comprehensive time series of the vertical distribution of phytoplankton biomass are lacking. Vertical profiles from nine floats that sampled the waters of the North Atlantic every few days for a couple of years reveal that phytoplankton populations start growing in early winter at very weak rates. A proper bloom with rapidly accelerating population growth rates instead starts only in spring when atmospheric cooling subsides and the mixed layer rapidly shoals. While the weak accumulation of phytoplankton in winter is crucial to maintaining a viable population, the spring bloom dominates the overall seasonal production of organic carbon. 2018-05-09T18:02:20Z 2018-05-09T18:02:20Z 2018-01 2017-03 2018-04-27T13:39:47Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 2041-1723 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/115264 Mignot, A. et al. “Floats with Bio-Optical Sensors Reveal What Processes Trigger the North Atlantic Bloom.” Nature Communications 9, 1 (January 2018): 190 © 2017 The Author(s) https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3298-8055 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3736-1956 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-02143-6 Nature Communications Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ application/pdf Nature Publishing Group Nature Communications |
| spellingShingle | Claustre, H. Mignot, Alexandre Ferrari, Raffaele Floats with bio-optical sensors reveal what processes trigger the North Atlantic bloom |
| title | Floats with bio-optical sensors reveal what processes trigger the North Atlantic bloom |
| title_full | Floats with bio-optical sensors reveal what processes trigger the North Atlantic bloom |
| title_fullStr | Floats with bio-optical sensors reveal what processes trigger the North Atlantic bloom |
| title_full_unstemmed | Floats with bio-optical sensors reveal what processes trigger the North Atlantic bloom |
| title_short | Floats with bio-optical sensors reveal what processes trigger the North Atlantic bloom |
| title_sort | floats with bio optical sensors reveal what processes trigger the north atlantic bloom |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/115264 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3298-8055 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3736-1956 |
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