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Nutrient Fluxes Toward Phytoplankton: Is It Useful to Consider Turbulence Intermittency?

Acta Biotheoretica volume 53, pages 371–379 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

The Influence of turbulence on nutrient fluxes towards phytoplankton cells has been previously estimated, but those studies did not take into account the intermittent nature of turbulent processes. This has been investigated here comparing the nutrient fluxes obtained using both mean and instantaneous turbulent energy dissipation rates. This approach shows that the size of cell potentially influenced by turbulence is lower than previously indicated, and that the spectral average estimate of the turbulence effect overestimates the flux. The capacity of cell to use such intermittent flux is then discussed.

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  1. Université de Rennes 1, UMR CNRS ECOBIO, FR/IFR CAREN, Campus de Beaulieu, 35042, Rennes Cedex, France

    Yvan Lagadeuc

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  1. Yvan Lagadeuc
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Correspondence to Yvan Lagadeuc.

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Lagadeuc, Y. Nutrient Fluxes Toward Phytoplankton: Is It Useful to Consider Turbulence Intermittency?. Acta Biotheor 53, 371–379 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10441-005-4891-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10441-005-4891-2

Key Words

  • turbulence intermittency
  • phytoplankton
  • nutrient