Red Tide off Rio – “It Is Very Worrying”
A dark, rainy spring gave way to a vast, long-lived phytoplankton bloom off the coast of Brazil. Beachgoers in the Brazilian state of Rio de…
Phytoplankton
Solving the Krill Paradox: Researchers Find Whales Eat (and Poop) Far More Than Previously Thought
Research on whale feeding highlights how the precipitous decline of large marine mammals has negatively impacted the health and productivity of ocean ecosystems. From 1910…
Marine Carbon Sequestration: New Research Delves Into Fate of Ocean Carbon
Marine-dissolved organic matter, which originates from phytoplankton, holds as much carbon as Earth’s atmosphere, yet the biological processes governing its fate are primarily studied under…
Australian Wildfires Triggered Massive Algal Blooms in Southern Ocean – Raises New Questions About Oceanic Carbon Uptake
Boom in carbon-sequestering phytoplankton raises new questions about oceanic carbon uptake and productivity. Clouds of smoke and ash from wildfires that ravaged Australia in 2019…
Tiny Organisms Shed Big Light on Ocean Nutrients – And the True Impacts of Climate Change
As the world warms, sweeping changes in marine nutrients seem like an expected consequence of increased ocean temperatures. However, the reality is more complicated. New…
NASA Satellite Captures Stunning Mid-Atlantic Phytoplankton Bloom
A May phytoplankton bloom left its mark on Mid-Atlantic waters. Given adequate sunlight and nutrients, phytoplankton populations can multiply into blooms large enough to be…
Tracking Carbon From the Ocean Surface to the Dark “Twilight Zone”
A seaward journey, supported by both NASA and the National Science Foundation, set sail in the northern Atlantic in early May—the sequel to a complementary…
Climate Change Trends Revealed by World’s Largest Lakes
Sixteen years of remote sensing data reveals that in Earth’s largest freshwater lakes, climate change influences carbon fixation trends. NASA-funded research on the 11 largest…
Spied by Satellite: Phytoplankton Factory in the Argentine Sea
In spring and summer, conditions are often just right for populations of the plant-like organisms explode into enormous blooms. The Goldilocks zone typically refers to…
Beguiling Phytoplankton Bloom in the Baltic Sea Looks Incredible
Nearly every summer, colorful blooms of phytoplankton flourish in the Baltic Sea. And nearly every summer, satellite images detect art-like patterns as the phytoplankton trace…
Witness Incredible Phytoplankton Surge in Arctic Waters
Each summer, parts of the Arctic Ocean and peripheral seas lose their ice cover and bathe in ample sunlight. In this window of time, some…
“Thickening Soup” – Stanford Scientists Find a “Regime Shift” in the Arctic Ocean
Stanford scientists find the growth of phytoplankton in the Arctic Ocean has increased 57 percent over just two decades, enhancing its ability to soak up…
Shedding New Light on the Ocean’s Living Carbon Pump
Phytoplankton play a crucial role in ocean biology and climate. Understanding the natural processes that influence phytoplankton primary production, and how they are changing as…
Can Seeding Earth’s Oceans With Iron on a Global Scale Solve Climate Change?
Study finds Earth’s oceans contain just the right amount of iron; adding more may not improve their ability to absorb carbon dioxide. Historically, the oceans…
Oceanographers Predict Phytoplankton Increase by 2100, Contrary to Common Belief in Environmental Science Community
Machine learning Earth system model projects higher numbers in low-latitude regions. A neural network-driven Earth system model has led University of California, Irvine (UCI) oceanographers…
Phytoplankton Bloom off Hawaii Island Fueled by Kilauea Lava
When Kīlauea Volcano erupted in 2018, it injected millions of cubic feet of molten lava into the nutrient-poor waters off Hawaiʻi Island. The lava-impacted seawater…
Scientists Reveal How Phytoplankton Survive in Nutrient Deficient Ocean Gyres
Subtropical gyres are huge, sustained currents spanning thousands of kilometers across the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, where very little grows. With nutrients in short supply,…
Scientists Believe Tiny Sea Creatures Hold Secrets to Earth’s Climate
Each new season brings change. Seasonal change on land is something that we’re familiar with and adjust to regularly. But what happens to billions of…