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| Open AccessPersistent equatorial Pacific iron limitation under ENSO forcing
An assessment of variations in phytoplankton nutrient limitation in the tropical Pacific over the past two decades finds that phytoplankton iron limitation is more stable in response to ENSO dynamics than models predict.
- Thomas J. Browning
- , Mak A. Saito
- & Alessandro Tagliabue
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Article
| Open AccessLong-term organic carbon preservation enhanced by iron and manganese
Catalysis of simple organic carbon molecules into complex macromolecules by Fe and Mn may play a fundamental role in organic carbon preservation, to a degree that could substantially affect the Earth’s carbon and oxygen cycles.
- Oliver W. Moore
- , Lisa Curti
- & Caroline L. Peacock
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Article |
Authigenic mineral phases as a driver of the upper-ocean iron cycle
Analysis of a new dissolved iron, ligand and particulate iron seasonal dataset shows that authigenic iron phases help control ocean dissolved iron distributions and the coupling between dissolved and particulate iron pools.
- Alessandro Tagliabue
- , Kristen N. Buck
- & Peter Sedwick
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Article |
Uncovering the Ediacaran phosphorus cycle
Reconstruction of oceanic phosphorus concentrations during a large negative carbon-isotope excursion co-occurring with global oceanic oxygenation and evolution of some of Earth’s earliest animals suggests that decoupled phosphorus and ocean anoxia cycles during the Ediacaran may have prolonged the rise of atmospheric oxygen.
- Matthew S. Dodd
- , Wei Shi
- & Timothy W. Lyons
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Matters Arising |
Quantifying the carbon benefits of ending bottom trawling
- Jan Geert Hiddink
- , Sebastiaan J. van de Velde
- & Marija Sciberras
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Article |
The evolution of the marine carbonate factory
Geochemical insights from a dataset of carbonate stable strontium isotopes suggest that porewater production of authigenic carbonates may have been an overlooked carbonate sink for much of Earth’s history.
- Jiuyuan Wang
- , Lidya G. Tarhan
- & Noah J. Planavsky
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Article |
Volcanic trigger of ocean deoxygenation during Cordilleran ice sheet retreat
Deoxygenation in the North Pacific immediately after the Cordilleran ice sheet retreat was shown to be linked with volcanism, suggesting that coupling between atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and solid-Earth systems can drive biogeochemical change.
- Jianghui Du
- , Alan C. Mix
- & Sharon
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Article
| Open AccessArctic Ocean annual high in \({{\boldsymbol{p}}}_{{{\bf{CO}}}_{{\bf{2}}}}\) could shift from winter to summer
Simulations suggest that the partial pressure of carbon dioxide in the Arctic Ocean will shift from a winter to a summer maximum owing to enhanced summer sea surface warming from earlier sea-ice retreat.
- James C. Orr
- , Lester Kwiatkowski
- & Hans-Otto Pörtner
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Article
| Open AccessEnhanced silica export in a future ocean triggers global diatom decline
Mesocosm experiments in different biomes show that future ocean acidification will slow down the dissolution of biogenic silica, decreasing silicic acid availability in the surface ocean and triggering a global decline of diatoms as revealed by Earth system model simulations.
- Jan Taucher
- , Lennart T. Bach
- & Ulf Riebesell
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Article |
Chemotaxis shapes the microscale organization of the ocean’s microbiome
In situ experiments have demonstrated chemotaxis of marine bacteria and archaea towards specific phytoplankton-derived dissolved organic matter, which leads to microscale partitioning of biogeochemical transformation in the ocean.
- Jean-Baptiste Raina
- , Bennett S. Lambert
- & Justin R. Seymour
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Perspective |
The land-to-ocean loops of the global carbon cycle
An assessment of the land-to-ocean cycling of carbon through inland waters, estuaries, tidal wetlands and continental shelf waters provides a perspective on the global carbon cycle and identifies key knowledge gaps.
- Pierre Regnier
- , Laure Resplandy
- & Philippe Ciais
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Article |
Mercury stable isotopes constrain atmospheric sources to the ocean
Mercury deposition pathways from the atmosphere to the ocean remain uncertain, but mercury stable isotope measurements from the Atlantic and Mediterranean show that ocean uptake of gaseous elemental mercury is more important than previously thought.
- Martin Jiskra
- , Lars-Eric Heimbürger-Boavida
- & Jeroen E. Sonke
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Article |
Widespread phytoplankton blooms triggered by 2019–2020 Australian wildfires
Oceanic deposition of wildfire aerosols can enhance marine productivity, as supported here by satellite and in situ profiling floats data showing that emissions from the 2019–2020 Australian wildfires fuelled phytoplankton blooms in the Southern Ocean.
- Weiyi Tang
- , Joan Llort
- & Nicolas Cassar
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Article |
Glacial episodes of a freshwater Arctic Ocean covered by a thick ice shelf
Unexpected intervals of low 230Th concentration in marine sediment cores are explained by considering that during at least two such periods, the Arctic Ocean and Nordic seas were composed entirely of fresh water and covered by a thick ice shelf.
- Walter Geibert
- , Jens Matthiessen
- & Ruediger Stein
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Article |
Emergent constraint on Arctic Ocean acidification in the twenty-first century
Sea surface density observations in the Arctic Ocean reveal a relationship between the present-day surface water density and the anthropogenic carbon inventory and coincident acidification, suggesting that recent acidification projections are underestimates.
- Jens Terhaar
- , Lester Kwiatkowski
- & Laurent Bopp
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Letter |
Mineral protection regulates long-term global preservation of natural organic carbon
Broadening activation energy distributions and increasing radiocarbon ages reveal the global importance of mineral protection in promoting organic carbon preservation.
- Jordon D. Hemingway
- , Daniel H. Rothman
- & Valier V. Galy
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Review Article |
Multi-faceted particle pumps drive carbon sequestration in the ocean
This Review discusses particle injection pumps, which inject suspended and sinking particles to different ocean depths and may sequester as much carbon as the biological gravitational pump.
- Philip W. Boyd
- , Hervé Claustre
- & Thomas Weber
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Article |
Convergent estimates of marine nitrogen fixation
Convergent estimates of nitrogen fixation from an inverse biogeochemical and a prognostic ocean model show that biological carbon export in the ocean is higher than expected and that stabilizing nitrogen-cycle feedbacks are weaker than we thought.
- Wei-Lei Wang
- , J. Keith Moore
- & François W. Primeau
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Letter |
The metabolite dimethylsulfoxonium propionate extends the marine organosulfur cycle
A structurally unusual zwitterionic metabolite, dimethylsulfoxonium propionate (DMSOP), is synthesized by several dimethylsulfoniopropionate-producing microalgae and marine bacteria and is readily metabolized into dimethylsulfoxide by marine bacteria, expanding our knowledge of the marine organosulfur cycle.
- Kathleen Thume
- , Björn Gebser
- & Georg Pohnert
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Letter |
Reverse weathering as a long-term stabilizer of marine pH and planetary climate
Elevated rates of reverse weathering within silica-rich oceans led to enhanced carbon retention within the ocean–atmosphere system, promoting a stable, equable ice-free climate throughout Earth’s early to middle ages.
- Terry T. Isson
- & Noah J. Planavsky
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Letter |
Carbon dioxide addition to coral reef waters suppresses net community calcification
In situ carbon dioxide enrichment experiments show that ocean acidification poses a threat to coral reefs by reducing the saturation state of aragonite and the concentration of carbonate ions and that this impairs community calcification.
- Rebecca Albright
- , Yuichiro Takeshita
- & Ken Caldeira
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Letter |
Meridional overturning circulation conveys fast acidification to the deep Atlantic Ocean
There has been about a forty per cent reduction in the transport of carbonate ions to the deep North Atlantic Ocean since preindustrial times, severely endangering cold-water corals.
- Fiz F. Perez
- , Marcos Fontela
- & Xose A. Padin
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Letter |
Nutrient co-limitation at the boundary of an oceanic gyre
Nutrient amendment experiments at the boundary of the South Atlantic gyre reveal extensive regions in which nitrogen and iron are co-limiting, with other micronutrients also approaching co-deficiency; such limitations potentially increase phytoplankton community diversity.
- Thomas J. Browning
- , Eric P. Achterberg
- & C. Mark Moore
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Outlook |
Sea change
The increasing acidity of our seas is a threat to marine life that for many species may be impossible to overcome.
- Sarah DeWeerdt
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Letter |
Decline in global oceanic oxygen content during the past five decades
The oxygen content of the global ocean has decreased by more than two per cent over the past five decades, with large variations found in different ocean basins and at different ocean depths.
- Sunke Schmidtko
- , Lothar Stramma
- & Martin Visbeck
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Letter |
Timescales for detection of trends in the ocean carbon sink
A climate modelling experiment is used to identify where ocean carbon uptake should change as a result of anthropogenic climate change and to distinguish these changes from internal climate variability; we may be able to detect changing uptake in some oceanic regions between 2020 and 2050, but until then, internal climate variability will preclude such detection.
- Galen A. McKinley
- , Darren J. Pilcher
- & Nicole S. Lovenduski
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Letter |
Reversal of ocean acidification enhances net coral reef calcification
A manipulative experiment in which a reef is alkalinized in situ shows that calcification rates are likely to be lower already than they were in pre-industrial times because of acidification.
- Rebecca Albright
- , Lilian Caldeira
- & Ken Caldeira
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Letter |
Future ocean hypercapnia driven by anthropogenic amplification of the natural CO2 cycle
Data-based projections suggest that the natural CO2 cycle could be amplified by up to ten times by 2100 in some oceanic regions if atmospheric CO2 concentrations continue to increase, which could detrimentally affect major fisheries.
- Ben I. McNeil
- & Tristan P. Sasse
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Letter |
North Pacific deglacial hypoxic events linked to abrupt ocean warming
The processes responsible for driving the expansion of the ocean's oxygen minimum zones remain uncertain; here sediment core data from the Gulf of Alaska suggest that reduced oxygen solubility was a result of ocean warming initiating the expansion of the North Pacific oxygen minimum zone, leading to increased marine productivity and carbon export and, in turn, further reductions in dissolved oxygen levels.
- S. K. Praetorius
- , A. C. Mix
- & F. G. Prahl
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Letter |
Basin-scale transport of hydrothermal dissolved metals across the South Pacific Ocean
Hydrothermal dissolved iron, manganese, and aluminium from the southern East Pacific Rise is transported several thousand kilometres westward across the South Pacific Ocean; global hydrothermal dissolved iron input is estimated to be more than four times what was previously thought and modelling suggests it must be physically or chemically stabilized in solution.
- Joseph A. Resing
- , Peter N. Sedwick
- & Alessandro Tagliabue
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Letter |
A global ocean inventory of anthropogenic mercury based on water column measurements
GEOTRACES sampling of deep water from the Atlantic, Pacific and Southern oceans allows an estimate of the amount (tripled in surface waters) and distribution (two-thirds increase in water less than a thousand metres deep) of anthropogenic mercury accumulating in the global ocean.
- Carl H. Lamborg
- , Chad R. Hammerschmidt
- & Mak A. Saito
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Letter |
Quantification of dissolved iron sources to the North Atlantic Ocean
A high-resolution oceanic section of dissolved iron stable isotope ratios reveals that the primary source of dissolved iron to the North Atlantic is atmospheric dust, while seafloor sediments and submarine volcanic vents also contribute significantly.
- Tim M. Conway
- & Seth G. John
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Letter |
Increasing subtropical North Pacific Ocean nitrogen fixation since the Little Ice Age
Despite a reduction in nutrient supply to the North Pacific subtropical gyre, it has undergone a recent increase in nitrogen fixation, and here records of nitrogen isotopes preserved in Hawaiian corals show that this is a trend that could be linked to climate change since the end of the Little Ice Age.
- Owen A. Sherwood
- , Thomas P. Guilderson
- & Matthew D. McCarthy
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Letter |
Persistent export of 231Pa from the deep central Arctic Ocean over the past 35,000 years
Ratios of the radionuclides thorium-230 and protactinium-231 in sediment record ongoing export of 231Pa from the deep central Arctic Ocean and may indicate continuous deep-water exchange between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans throughout the past 35,000 years.
- Sharon S. Hoffmann
- , Jerry F. McManus
- & L. Susan Brown-Leger
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News |
Locked greenhouse gas in Arctic sea may be 'climate canary'
Undersea methane hydrate deposit is the shallowest yet found.
- Zoë Corbyn
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News |
US state declares war on acid waters
Washington announces science-based plan to tackle ocean acidification.
- Virginia Gewin
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News |
Ocean still suffering from Fukushima fallout
Continuing leaks and contaminated sediment keep radiation levels high.
- Geoff Brumfiel
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News |
Coral colonies call for help
Threatened animals summon fish to trim toxic seaweed.
- Daniel Cressey
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Article |
Zero-valent sulphur is a key intermediate in marine methane oxidation
Methane oxidation under anaerobic conditions coupled to sulphate reduction is thought to be carried out by a consortium of methanotrophic archaea (ANME) and sulphate-reducing Deltaproteobacteria; here it is shown that ANME alone can mediate the reaction and that the associated bacteria perform disulphide disproportionation, a new microbial sulphur transformation.
- Jana Milucka
- , Timothy G. Ferdelman
- & Marcel M. M. Kuypers
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News |
Seismic signs of escaping methane under the sea
A changing Gulf Stream is warming deep waters along the eastern United States and destabilizing greenhouse gases trapped in sediments.
- Virginia Gewin
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Letter |
Recent changes to the Gulf Stream causing widespread gas hydrate destabilization
Seismic data and modelling are used to reveal clathrate destabilization along the eastern margin of the United States; the destabilization is probably linked to warming, or a slight shift, in the Gulf Stream.
- Benjamin J. Phrampus
- & Matthew J. Hornbach
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News & Views |
Ancient burial at sea
A study reveals cyclic changes in the rate of burial of biogenic calcium carbonate at the Pacific ocean floor 43 million to 33 million years ago, as Earth exited a warm 'greenhouse' state to become an ice-capped planet. See Article p.609
- Heather Stoll
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News |
Global network will track acidifying oceans
Remote sensors and research cruises aim to measure aquatic impacts of carbon dioxide.
- Jessica Marshall
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News |
Acidic oceans threaten fish
Stocks could suffer as seas soak up more carbon dioxide.
- Hannah Hoag
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Review Article |
The case against climate regulation via oceanic phytoplankton sulphur emissions
- P. K. Quinn
- & T. S. Bates
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Letter |
Structure of a methyl-coenzyme M reductase from Black Sea mats that oxidize methane anaerobically
The crystal structure of the enzyme MCR from methanogenic archaea shows that it is very similar to that of methanotrophic archaea; the differences observed may tune the enzymes for their respective biological context within the sea mats.
- Seigo Shima
- , Martin Krueger
- & Ulrich Ermler
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News |
Angry words over East Asian seas
Chinese territorial claims propel science into choppy waters.
- David Cyranoski
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News & Views |
Forecasting the rain ratio
Marine algae known as coccolithophores produce much of the ocean's calcium carbonate. A large survey reveals how these organisms' calcification processes and species distribution change in response to carbon dioxide levels. See Letter p.80
- David A. Hutchins
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Letter |
Sensitivity of coccolithophores to carbonate chemistry and ocean acidification
- L. Beaufort
- , I. Probert
- & C. de Vargas