Nuttle, W. K., J. S. Wroblewski, and J. L. Sarmiento, 1991: Advances
in modeling ocean primary production and its role in the global carbon
cycle. In Global Change and Relevant Space Observations, Oxford,
England: Pergamon Press Inc., 67-76.
Abstract: The oceans contain a large fraction of the carbon in the
Earth's biosphere. Therefore, understanding the global carbon cycle, particularly
the changes in atmospheric CO2 and their
effects on climate, requires an accounting of CO2
exchanges between the atmosphere and the ocean. Primary production in the
ocean, i.e., uptake and assimilation of CO2
by phytoplankton, plays an important role in this exchange. Ocean production
is linked to nutrient cycles, mixing and circulation on a number of scales.
Several university research groups are using Coastal Zone Color Scanner
imagery to study ocean production and the links between physical and biological
oceanographic processes and the carbon cycle. We review their recent accomplishments.