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Nature 437, 628-631 (29 September 2005) | doi:10.1038/437628a; Published online 28 September 2005
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Faculty Position in Mathematical Biology
- The Ohio State University
- Ohio, USA
Research Fellow in Bone-ligamentous Tissue Scaffolds
- University of Leeds
- Leeds, UK
Oceanography: Nutrients in remote mode
Marina Lévy1
Abstract
Phytoplankton productivity depends on the replenishment of nutrients in ocean surface waters. An explanation for a region of strikingly low productivity invokes a little-considered aspect of the nutrient cycle.
In the open ocean, so-called 'mode waters' are water masses of uniform density that form at the surface in winter, subduct and then may travel long distances beneath the surface. Palter et al.1 (page 687 of this issue) show that in one circulation system in the North Atlantic, known as the North Atlantic subtropical gyre, this lateral process adversely affects nutrient availability along the mode-water route — and so, by providing only limited amounts of nitrate and phosphate, exerts a remote control on phytoplankton productivity.
- Marina Lévy is in the Laboratoire d'Océanographie et de Climatologie par l'Expérimentation et l'Analyse Numérique, Institut Pierre Simon Laplace, 4 place Jussieu, 75252 Paris cedex 05, France.
Email: marina@lodyc.jussieu.fr
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