Refining our understanding of oceanic biogeochemistry and ecosystem functioning

Showstack, R., Lomas, M., Bates, N.R., Knap, A.H., Karl, D.A., Lukas, R., Landry, M.R., Bidigare, R.R., Steinberg, D.A. and Carlson, C.A. (2002) Refining our understanding of oceanic biogeochemistry and ecosystem functioning. Eos Transactions American Geophysical Union, 83 (48), 559-567. (doi:10.1029/2002EO000386).

Abstract

On societally relevant time scales (e.g., decades to centuries), oceanic biological processes sequester large quantities of atmospheric carbon, thereby modulating CO₂ concentrations in the lower atmosphere [IPCC, 2001]. The complex physical and biogeochemical interactions that regulate carbon fluxes between the atmosphere and the surface ocean— apparently random physical events, fluctuations in community structure and function, natural climate cycles, and long-term changes in anthropogenic forcing—are best studied within the framework of ocean time-series observations. Such thinking led in 1988 to the initiation of the U.S. JGOFS (Joint Global Ocean Flux Study) time-series programs in the subtropical North Atlantic (BATS = Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study) and North Pacific (HOT = Hawaii Ocean Time-series), and motivates continuing observations into the foreseeable future. After 14 years of intensive physical, biological, and biogeochemical sampling in these regions, the paradigms that initially guided our understanding and research of ocean ecosystems have been found wanting, and new perspectives have emerged to provide a stimulating foundation for continued investigations.

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