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Oceanography

Ocean eddies and plankton blooms

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Phytoplankton form the base of the marine food web, but their growth in nutrient-depleted surface waters has remained a puzzle. Two complementary studies suggest that ocean eddies help to control phytoplankton growth and distribution in unexpected ways.

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Figure 1: Ocean eddies in eastern boundary upwelling zones and the waters off Antarctica.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Richard G. Williams is at Liverpool University, School of Environmental Sciences, 4 Brownlow Hill, Liverpool L69 3GP, UK,

    Richard G. Williams

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  1. Richard G. Williams
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Correspondence to Richard G. Williams.

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Williams, R. Ocean eddies and plankton blooms. Nature Geosci 4, 739–740 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1307

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