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🧵1/6
Each spring in the Southern Ocean, sometimes seen from space by @NASA satellites, swirling blooms of solar-powered phytoplankton turn CO2 into food for everything else. While we know the blooms are critical to the biological carbon pump, what triggers them is up for debate.
Each spring in the Southern Ocean, sometimes seen from space by @NASA satellites, swirling blooms of solar-powered phytoplankton turn CO2 into food for everything else. While we know the blooms are critical to the biological carbon pump, what triggers them is up for debate.
2/6
In #ASLO_Letters, researchers from @IMASUTAS, @ClimateExtremes, @CSIRO & @Ant_Partnership use chlorophyll, phytoplankton carbon & nitrate to understand the best indicator for the timing of blooms - the first study to look at all 3 at once.
➡️ doi.org/10.1002/lol2.1… @aslo_org
In #ASLO_Letters, researchers from @IMASUTAS, @ClimateExtremes, @CSIRO & @Ant_Partnership use chlorophyll, phytoplankton carbon & nitrate to understand the best indicator for the timing of blooms - the first study to look at all 3 at once.
➡️ doi.org/10.1002/lol2.1… @aslo_org
3/6
They use data from 7114 profiles from 56 BGC-Argo floats circling #Antarctica to measure the biogeochemistry of the Southern Ocean south of 60°S, like this by @SOCCOMProject. See how the @bgc_argo float rights itself in the water, ready to start a mission of at least 3 years.
They use data from 7114 profiles from 56 BGC-Argo floats circling #Antarctica to measure the biogeochemistry of the Southern Ocean south of 60°S, like this by @SOCCOMProject. See how the @bgc_argo float rights itself in the water, ready to start a mission of at least 3 years.
4/6
🤖 These drifting robotic BGC-Argo floats are used to track bloom timing by measuring dissolved nitrate (plant fertiliser), phytoplankton carbon (growth rate) and chlorophyll (light-absorbing pigment), year-round to 2000m depth, under ice and even in the winter dark.
🤖 These drifting robotic BGC-Argo floats are used to track bloom timing by measuring dissolved nitrate (plant fertiliser), phytoplankton carbon (growth rate) and chlorophyll (light-absorbing pigment), year-round to 2000m depth, under ice and even in the winter dark.
5/6
Comparing these 3 shows that phytoplankton make more chlorophyll to adjust to high-latitude low-light conditions, before absorbing more carbon and nitrate at the start of the bloom. When it comes to figuring out the 'bloom trigger', it’s important to use the right indicators.
Comparing these 3 shows that phytoplankton make more chlorophyll to adjust to high-latitude low-light conditions, before absorbing more carbon and nitrate at the start of the bloom. When it comes to figuring out the 'bloom trigger', it’s important to use the right indicators.
6/6
Stay in touch with our research on the role of #Antarctica and the @_SouthernOcean in the global #climate system - please sign up to our mailing list at aappartnership.org.au/contact-us/
Stay in touch with our research on the role of #Antarctica and the @_SouthernOcean in the global #climate system - please sign up to our mailing list at aappartnership.org.au/contact-us/
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