2000 Recent climate model predictions indicate that rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide may trigger a dramatic shift in phytoplankton communities in the Southern Ocean, according to Kevin Arrigo, Assistant Professor of Geophysics at Stanford University.
Phytoplankton are the basis of the marine food chain and a significant factor in global climate.
These diatoms, from the San Francisco Bay area, are chain-forming. The Ross Sea is one of the most productive regions of the Southern Ocean, partly owing to the large and persistent polynyas that form there. Kevin Arrigo, Assistant Professor of Geophysics at Stanford University, and colleagues examined the relationship between polynya formation and phytoplankton blooms in the southwestern Ross Sea. According to Arrigo, the interaction between seasonal changes in winds and yearly differences in the timing of polynya formation control the start of phytoplankton blooms in the Ross Sea. According to Arrigo, understanding the dynamics of phytoplankton growth is crucial to defining the role of the Southern Ocean in the global carbon cycle.