SeaWiFS The Meaning of Ocean Color The Role of Phytoplankton The Carbon Absorbing Oceans

The Carbon Cycle How do phytoplankton control carbon? How do the ocean and atmosphere interact? Make a Greenhouse QUICK FACTS ALGAE The first plants on earth, the algae, developed in the sea 3,500 million years ago. Algae, like other plants, give off oxygen as they produce food. In time, these algae have produced enough oxygen to provide an atmosphere in which animals could survive. Today, algae produce over half of the oxygen that we breathe. FOOD Photosynthesis is not the only way new food is produced in the ocean. Bacteria living near hydrothermal vents in the deep ocean and oil and gas seeps along the continental margins in the deep can fix carbon from carbon dioxide into nutritious molecules using the chemical energy in hydrogen sulfide or methane. How do phytoplankton control the carbon cycle? Besides acting as the first link in the food chain, phytoplankton are a very important part of ocean life. The carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is in balance with carbon dioxide in the ocean. During photosynthesis, phytoplankton remove carbon dioxide from sea water and release oxygen as a by-product. This allows the oceans to absorb additional carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. If fewer phytoplankton existed, atmospheric carbon dioxide would increase. Phytoplankton also affect carbon dioxide levels when they die. Phytoplankton, like plants on land, are composed of substances that contain carbon. Dead phytoplankton can sink to the ocean floor. The carbon in the phytoplankton is soon covered by other material sinking to the ocean bottom. ln this way, the oceans act as a sink, a place to dispose of global carbon, which otherwise would accumulate in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Other global sinks include land vegetation and soil. However the carbon in these sinks frequently is returned to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide by burning or decomposition. Deforestation contributes to the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by reducing vegetation that takes up carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide acts as a "greenhouse" gas in the atmosphere, and therefore may contribute to global warming. Sources of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere include decomposition of organic matter (such as trees), the carbon dioxide that animals and people exhale, volcanic activity, and human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels and wood. No one yet knows how much carbon the oceans and land can absorb. Nor do we know how the Earth's environment will adjust to increasing amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Studying the distribution and changes in global phytoplankton using ocean color and other tools will help scientists find answers to these questions.

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