FAPESP - Satellite estimates of marine net community production in the South Atlantic from Sentinel-3.

大气中的二氧化碳已经从前工业化时代的280个微大气上升到今天的370个微大气。如果人类排放的二氧化碳继续保持目前的速度，预计这一数字将在未来100年内翻一番。微小的海洋藻类(浮游植物)能够通过光合作用固定二氧化碳，因此可以通过将二氧化碳吸入海洋来减少大气中的二氧化碳。光合作用涉及一系列酶控制的反应，首先是捕捉光能，最后是固定二氧化碳以建立浮游植物细胞。一些固定碳通过呼吸作用流失。海洋细菌是一种被称为浮游动物和浮游植物的微小动物，它们自己在夜间呼吸。浮游植物光合作用和固定碳的程度以及细菌-浮游植物(或海洋浮游生物)群落呼吸碳的程度控制着二氧化碳是从大气中吸收到海洋中，还是从海洋中释放到大气中。这项提案的总体目标是提高我们对南大西洋和巴西沿海的海洋浮游生物群落如何潜在地调节大气二氧化碳浓度的了解。可以使用卫星传感器从太空监测浮游植物的碳固定情况。欧洲航天局将于2015年秋季发射一种新的卫星传感器，它有能力做到这一点。我们将利用来自这颗新卫星的数据，与巴西一家研究所合作研究这一现象。这一结果将有利于英国和巴西在气候变化方面的研究。申请者正在应用RCUK-FAPESP牵头代理协议

Atmospheric CO2 has risen from 280 micro-atmospheres during preindustrial times to 370 micro-atmospheres today. This is predicted to double over the next 100 years if anthropogenic emissions of CO2 continue at their current rate. The microscopic marine algae (the phytoplankton), are able to fix CO2 through photosynthesis and can therefore reduce atmospheric CO2 by drawing it down into the ocean. Photosynthesis involves a series of enzymatic controlled reactions that start with capturing light energy and finish with fixing CO2 to build phytoplankton cells. Some of the fixed carbon is lostthrough respiration. Marine bacteria, the microscopic animals known as the zooplankton and phytoplankton themselves during the night time respire. The extent to which phytoplankton photosynthesize and fix carbon and the bacteria-zoophytoplankton (or marine plankton) community respires carbon controls whether CO2 is drawn down from the atmosphere to the ocean or is released to the atmosphere from the ocean. The overall objective of this proposal is to improve our understanding of how the marine plankton community in the South Atlantic and the coast of Brazil potentially regulate the atmospheric CO2 concentration. Phytoplankton carbon fixation can be monitored from space using satellite sensors. A new satellite sensor, that has the capability to do this, will be launched by the European Space Agency in autumn 2015. We will use data from this new satellite to study this phenomena in collaboration with a Brazilian Research Institute. The results will benefit both UK and Brazilian research on climate change. The RCUK-FAPESP Lead Agency Agreement is being applied by the applicants