These maps show average chlorophyll concentration in May 2003–2010 (left) and November 2002–2009 (right) in the Pacific Ocean.

)Like land plants, phytoplankton have chlorophyll to capture sunlight, and they use photosynthesis to turn it into chemical energy. “Many people have been saying that with increased melt, nutrient inventories would decline, but that is not what we saw.”Between 1998 and 2008, the increase in phytoplankton biomass was likely the result of increasingly vast expanses of ice-free waters and a longer growing season.

Phytoplankton, like land plants, require nutrients such as nitrate, phosphate, silicate, and calcium at various levels depending on the species. He uses techniques that span isotope geochemistry, next generation DNA sequencing, and satellite tagging to study the ecology of a wide variety of ocean species. Between late 1997 and mid-2008, satellites observed that warmer-than-average temperatures (red line) led to below-average chlorophyll concentrations (blue line) in these areas. Even small changes in the growth of phytoplankton may affect atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, which would feed back to global surface temperatures.Phytoplankton form the base of the aquatic food web. Despite these challenging conditions, the twilight zone teems with life that helps support the ocean’s food web and is intertwined with Earth’s climate. Don’t habituated the bears but drop food in different places. In the equatorial upwelling zone, there is very little seasonal change in phytoplankton productivity.In spring and summer, phytoplankton bloom at high latitudes and decline in subtropical latitudes.

The other type of phytoplankton cells, more primitive but far more abundant than algae, is photosynthetic bacteria. Phytoplankton—the floating plant-like organisms that, like plants on land, need sunlight and nutrients to thrive—have exploded in numbers, or “bloomed,” across ice-free northern latitudes. Phytoplankton occur almost anywhere there is water and sunlight. Under future conditions of anthropogenic warming and ocean acidification, changes in phytoplankton mortality may be significant.The term phytoplankton encompasses all photoautotrophic microorganisms in aquatic In terms of numbers, the most important groups of phytoplankton include the The dynamic stoichiometry shown in unicellular algae reflects their capability to store nutrients in an internal pool, shift between enzymes with various nutrient requirements and alter osmolyte composition.Based on allocation of resources, phytoplankton is classified into three different growth strategies, namely survivalist, bloomerNAAMES was designed to target specific phases of the annual phytoplankton cycle: minimum, climax and the intermediary decreasing and increasing biomass, in order to resolve debates on the timing of bloom formations and the patterns driving annual bloom re-creation.Estimates of oceanic phytoplankton change are highly variable. As the ocean has warmed since the 1950s, it has become increasingly stratified, which cuts off nutrient recycling.Continued warming due to the build up of carbon dioxide is predicted to reduce the amounts of larger phytoplankton such as diatoms), compared to smaller types, like cyanobacteria. These images show a bloom near Kamchatka on June 2, 2010. I’m getting tired of all the chicken littles out there.The article leaves out the most important factor in marine phytoplankton increases .. CO2 .Email address is optional. “There will always be winter ice, but for the rest of the year, it’s starting to look a lot like our temperate oceans.”NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens, using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS/LANCE and GIBS/Worldview and data courtesy of That’s exactly what should be done! Arrigo speculated that the decline there could be related to higher nutrient consumption “upstream” in waters that have become more productive. Other species produce toxins that cause can cause illness or death among humans and even whales that are either exposed to the toxins or eat shellfish that accumulate toxins. This change promotes blooms of coccolithopohres, a type of phytoplankton that turns the water milky white-green in satellite imagery due to their calcium carbonate shells. (NASA image by Jesse Allen & Robert Simmon, based on SeaWiFS data from the GSFC El Niño events influence weather patterns beyond the Pacific; in the eastern Indian Ocean around Indonesia, for example, phytoplankton productivity increases during El Niño. In short, they make most other ocean life possible.Through photosynthesis these organisms transform inorganic carbon in the atmosphere and in seawater into organic compounds, making them an essential part of Earth's carbon cycle.

They are what is known as primary producers of the ocean—the organisms that form the base of the food chain.Because they need light, phytoplankton live near the surface, where enough sunlight can penetrate to power photosynthesis. Like plants on land, phytoplankton growth varies seasonally. Winds play a strong role in the distribution of phytoplankton because they drive currents that cause deep water, loaded with nutrients, to be pulled up to the surface.These upwelling zones, including one along the equator maintained by the convergence of the easterly trade winds, and others along the western coasts of several continents, are among the most productive ocean ecosystems.

By late July and into autumn, waters become warmer and more stratified. Since 2009, the increases have been due to phytoplankton growing in ever-higher concentrations.

Scientists and engineers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution are poised to explore and investigate this hidden frontier.Scientists usually divide plankton into three groups that align with major divisions of life. (Graph adapted from These shifts in species composition may be benign, or they may result in a cascade of negative consequences throughout the marine food web.

In this window of time, some of these open-water areas come to life with phytoplankton blooms so large and vivid they can be seen from space.The summer of 2020 has been one of those summers.