thnx to mlp at robertscribbler's blog for these:
more basic information on ocean processes.
1.
https://phys.org/news/2017-07-extreme-l ... house.htmlMobile low oxygen eddies moving across the Atlantic producing nitrous oxide, a “hitherto unknown phenomenon in the Atlantic,” says Dr. Fiedler.”
“The latest study, now published in Scientific Reports, demonstrates that at the core of the eddy, the highest levels of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide ever measured in the open Atlantic were found in only 100 meters of water depth.
(Note that this is a feedback, since nitrous oxide is a powerful GHG, probably a feedback not yet in any models.)
2. Bacteria collaborate to propel the ocean ‘engine’. July 5, 2017
https://phys.org/news/2017-07-bacteria- ... ocean.htmlEssential microbiological interactions that keep our oceans stable have been fully revealed for the first time, by researchers at the University of Warwick.
Dr Joseph Christie-Oleza and Professor David Scanlan from the School of Life Sciences have discovered that two of the most abundant types of microorganism in the oceans – phototrophic and heterotrophic bacteria – collaborate to cycle nutrients, consequently, drawing carbon from the atmosphere and feeding the ecosystem.
This is contrary to the popular scientific belief that marine phototrophs and heterotrophs compete with each other to consume the scarce nutrients found in seawater.
Phototrophic bacteria use light to ‘fix’ carbon dioxide from the air, and convert this into organic matter – which leaks out, and is consumed by heterotrophs, which in turn release nutrients back to the ecosystem so the phototrophic bacteria can continue to do their job: photosynthesise and fix more carbon.
This interaction keeps the level of nutrients in the ocean balanced and keeps a healthy base that ultimately sustains the entire marine food web. Half of the planet’s primary production and half of the oxygen we breathe rely on this system to work efficiently. The speed at which these nutrients are circulated will define the rate at which the oceans will continue to buffer against carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which is a major greenhouse gas.
“Here we give experimental evidence of a basic concept in ecology, where nutrients need to circulate to maintain a stable ecosystem, like money in the economy! If one of the partners takes too much and doesn’t give back, he himself will suffer the consequences in the long term. The system will self-regulate and always reach a stable state”, commented Dr Christie-Oleza.