CAREER: Imaging the global patterns and drivers of the ocean's biological carbon pump

海洋表面的微小植物和动物通过利用溶解在海水中的大气二氧化碳制造生物材料来去除大气中的二氧化碳。在生物死亡后，这些碳的一部分沉入深海，在那里它溶解回到水中或降落在海底。生物碳泵是指阳光照射下的海洋表面的碳转移，它是控制地球碳循环和气候的一个非常重要的过程。令人惊讶的是，这种转移的规模和速度仍然不清楚，因为海洋中许多时间和地点的颗粒中碳的数据不可用。该项目的研究人员计划收集一个引人注目的新数据集，并对其进行检查，以回答有关生物碳泵的主要问题。这些数据将来自于加入现有的研究船航行通过世界所有海洋的巡航，创建一个系统的全球海洋粒子调查。这些数据将成为一个新的公共数据库的核心，供其他国际研究人员在继续研究生物碳泵时使用。对于这位年轻的研究人员来说，该项目还将为海洋学的综合研究，教育和推广事业奠定基础。一位阿拉斯加本地人将出海并分析数据，利用这些结果完成博士学位。℃下此外，该项目还将在阿拉斯加海洋生物中心（ASLC）设计和制作一个新的水族馆展览，以教育公众了解生物碳泵的复杂工作原理和全球重要性。 这些活动应增加海洋学的多样性，并激励新一代的科学家。关于生物碳泵的可靠和有用的数据很少，主要是由于在全球广阔的海洋中研究复杂系统的实验，后勤和技术挑战。该项目旨在通过提供关于海洋中颗粒和浮游生物的全球一致数据集来解决研究生物碳泵的基本和持续问题。该项目将与美国Repeat Hydrography计划合作，利用原位成像技术确定全球沿着七个海洋断面的颗粒物和中型浮游动物的总丰度、大小分布和功能群。该设计将测试与区域粒子热点的存在和性质有关的基本假设，并研究浮游动物活动和垂直迁移的全球模式，因为它们影响生物泵。还将研究卫星数据、计算出的通量模式、通过中层的粒子衰减以及对海洋地球化学模型的限制之间的联系。

Microscopic plants and animals in the surface ocean remove the atmospheric carbon dioxide dissolved in seawater by using it to make biological materials. After organisms die, some portion of this carbon sinks into the deep sea where it dissolves back into the water or lands on the seafloor. The Biological Carbon Pump is the name for this carbon transfer out of the sunlit surface ocean, and it is a very important process controlling the earth's carbon cycle and climate. Surprisingly, the size and rate of this transfer remains unclear because data for carbon in particles are not available for many times and places in the ocean. The researcher for this project plans to collect a remarkable new data set and examine it to answer major questions about the Biological Carbon Pump. The data will come from joining existing cruises on research ships sailing through all of the world's oceans, creating a systematic global survey of particles in the ocean. These data will be the heart of a new public database for use by other international researchers in their continued study of the Biological Carbon Pump. For this young researcher, the project will also lay the foundation for a career of integrated research, education, and outreach in oceanography. An Alaskan native will go to sea and analyze data, using these results to complete a Ph.D. degree. In addition, the project will design and produce a new aquarium exhibit at the Alaska SeaLife Center (ASLC) to educate the public about the complex workings and global importance of the Biological Carbon Pump. These activities should increase diversity in oceanography and inspire a new generation of scientists. Reliable and useful data on the Biological Carbon Pump is sparse, mostly due to the experimental, logistical, and technical challenges of studying a complex system over the great expanse of the global ocean. This project aims to tackle a fundamental and ongoing problem in studying the Biological Carbon Pump by providing a global and consistent dataset on particles and plankton in the ocean. In collaboration with the US Repeat Hydrography program, this project will use in situ imaging technology to determine the total abundance, size distribution, and functional groups of particles and mesozooplankton along seven global ocean transects. The design will test fundamental hypotheses related to the presence and nature of regional particle hotspots and examine the global patterns of zooplankton activity and vertical migration as they affect the biological pump. Links between satellite data, calculated flux patterns, attenuation of particles through the mesopelagic, and constraints on biogeochemical models will also be investigated.