Researchers report interannual fluctuations in both inorganic phosphorus concentrations and iron-rich dust transport from Asia in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre (NPSG), a system of circulating ocean currents covering most of the northern Pacific Ocean; phosphorus and iron exhibit significant yet opposite correlations with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, suggesting that climate variation causes the NPSG ecosystem to oscillate between iron-limited and phosphorus-limited states.
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Article #19-00789: "Climate-driven oscillation of phosphorus and iron limitation in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre," by Ricardo M. Letelier et al.
MEDIA CONTACT: David M. Karl, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI; tel: 808-956-8964, 808-226-2141; e-mail: <dkarl@hawaii.edu>; Ricardo M. Letelier, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR; tel: 541-737-3890, 541-231-7510; e-mail: <letelier@oregonstate.edu>
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences