Ocean fronts drive marine fishery production and biogeochemical cycling
Abstract
Fronts in the ocean act as oases in a fluid desert that are not fully accounted for in climate or fisheries model projections. Fronts act to increase production by channeling nutrients through multiple trophic levels, including commercially important fishes and marine mammals, and enhance carbon export to the deep ocean. Fronts consequently have immense effects on the ocean, from base of the food chain up through the dinner table and mediation of global climate change. Here we show how fronts can be incorporated into current models, using a technique from fluid dynamics to improve both climate and fisheries models.
- Publication:
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Science
- Pub Date:
- February 2015
- DOI:
- 10.1073/pnas.1417143112
- Bibcode:
- 2015PNAS..112.1710W