Ocean Productivity Abiotic factors like solar radiation and nutrients, and biotic factors like zooplankton predation may affect ocean productivity Productivity varies with the season, and also locally and globally In this lecture you have the opportunity to explore a number of examples of how ocean productivity varies. The images used here are made from satellites such as the Nimbus 7 satellite, with color scanner, or the Coastal Zone Scanner. These satellites were in-service in the 1970's and 1980's. Global patterns of productivity Look at this image of global productivity .
Colors correspond to surface chlorophyll content.
Large gyre systems, with low productivity. In the north Atlantic, the gyre is called the Sargasso Sea. Notice that there are a lot of exceptions to the global patterns, and local areas of high productivity in generally low productivity zones. Inshore tropical waters have a productivity as much as 10 times higher than offshore because of high nutrients and light. See Figure 2.13 in Levinton.