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Scientists Discover New Trigger for Immense North Atlantic Ocean Spring Plankton Bloom

By Guest PostJuly 7, 2012Environmentadam huxtable, amala mahadevan, atlantic ocean, biological pump, bjarni saemundsson, carbon dioxide, climate, climate on earth, CO2, craig lee, diatoms, don rice, eddies, emily kallin, eric d asaro, fossil fuel, global carbon cycle, holiday fireworks, mary jane perry, michael ohmart, microscopic plants, modulate, north atlantic bloom, not sunlight, nsf, ocean physics, oceanic cycling, oxygen, photosynthesis, physical biological model, phytoplankton, research vessel, silica, sun, surface warming, university of maine, university of washington, us beachgoers, whirlpools, whoi, zooplankton

Ocean eddies help jump-start plankton blooms that spread across hundreds of square miles

On this July 4^th week, U.S. beachgoers are thronging their way to seaside resorts and parks to celebrate with holiday fireworks. But across the horizon and miles out to sea toward the north, the Atlantic Ocean’s own spring and summer ritual unfolds. It entails the blooming of countless microscopic plants, or phytoplankton.

In what’s known as the North Atlantic Bloom, an immense number of phytoplankton burst into existence, first “greening,” then “whitening” the sea as one or more species take the place of others.

What turns on this huge bloom, what starts these ocean fireworks? Is it the Sun’s warmth? (more…)

Searching for the “Perfect Glass”

By Guest PostJune 18, 2011Sciencealuminum, atmospheric pressure, atomic structures, atoms, carnegie, cerium, cerium aluminum glass, crystals, favorablesystem, geophysical laboratory, gigapascals of pressure, glasses, ho kwang mao, metallic glass, minerals, silica, zeolite

Washington, D.C.— Glasses differ from crystals. Crystals are organized in repeating patterns that extend in every direction. Glasses lack this strict organization, but do sometimes demonstrate order among neighboring atoms. New research from Carnegie’s Geophysical Laboratory reveals the possibility of creating a metallic glass that is organized on a larger scale. Their results are published June 17 in Science.

Scientists have discovered glasses that demonstrate order among the nearest neighboring atoms, called short-range order, and a slightly wider range of atoms, called medium-range order. Most research about finding or creating a glass with a long-range, nearly crystalline, level of order—referred to as the perfect glass state—has been conducted on ice and the minerals silica and zeolite. But no research into long-range order glass has been successful until now. (more…)

Scientists Discover Animal-like Urea Cycle in Tiny Diatoms in the Ocean

By Guest PostMay 19, 2011Sciencealisdair fernie, andrew allen, animal like urea cycle, atmosphere, carbon recycling, chris bowler, david garrison, deep ocean, diatoms, environmental health of marine ecosystems, genome, marine diatoms, metazoan, national science foundation, nsf, nutrient, nutrient metabolism in diatoms, pennate diatom, photosynthesis, phytoplankton, rna interference, silica, unique cell walls, urea synthesis

*Cycle enables marine phytoplankton to use carbon and nitrogen from their environment*

Scientists have discovered that marine diatoms, tiny phytoplankton abundant in the sea, have an animal-like urea cycle, and that this cycle enables the diatoms to efficiently use carbon and nitrogen from their environment. (more…)

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Scientists Discover New Trigger for Immense North Atlantic Ocean Spring Plankton Bloom

Searching for the “Perfect Glass”

Scientists Discover Animal-like Urea Cycle in Tiny Diatoms in the Ocean