Illustration Showing Source of Nutrients to Phytoplankton in Open Pacific Ocean (IMAGE)

Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute

Illustration Showing Source of Nutrients to Phytoplankton in Open Pacific Ocean

Caption

This illustration shows how microscopic algae live mostly in the sunlit waters close to the sea surface, while their essential nutrient, nitrate, is only available in deeper waters. Johnson and his coauthors showed that, each year, as the algae grow over the course of a year, concentrations of oxygen increase in surface waters while concentrations of nitrate decrease in deeper water. As yet unclear is how algae near the surface obtain nitrate from the depths.

Credit

Kim Fulton-Bennett © 2010 MBARI

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