Mara A Freilich, Camille Poirier, Mathieu Dever, Eva Alou-Font, John Allen, Andrea Cabornero, Lisa Sudek, Chang Jae Choi, Simón Ruiz, Ananda Pascual, J Thomas Farrar, T M Shaun Johnston, Eric A D'Asaro, Alexandra Z Worden, Amala Mahadevan
Subtropical oceans contribute significantly to global primary production, but the fate of the picophytoplankton that dominate in these low-nutrient regions is poorly understood. Working in the subtropical Mediterranean, we demonstrate that subduction of water at ocean fronts generates 3D intrusions with uncharacteristically high carbon, chlorophyll, and oxygen that extend below the sunlit photic zone into the dark ocean. These contain fresh picophytoplankton assemblages that resemble the photic-zone regions where the water originated...
May 7, 2024: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America