
Phytoplankton - A Simple Guide | WHOI
Nov 6, 2025 · Phytoplankton growth is often limited by the scarcity of iron in the ocean. As a result, many people are discussing plans to fertilize large areas of the ocean with iron to …
A Day in the Life of a Phytoplankter - Woods Hole Oceanographic …
Jan 24, 2013 · Earth's vast oceans teem with innumerable microscopic plants that make the fertility and abundance of the United States’ Grain Belt look like, well, a drop in the ocean. …
Plankton - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Phytoplankton produce their own food by lassoing the energy of the sun in a process called photosynthesis. So for sunlight to reach them, they need to be near the top layer of the ocean. …
Phytoplankton – Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Much of marine life begins as microscopic larvae—so tiny, delicate, and scattered in hard-to-reach parts…
Ocean Topic: Biological Carbon Pump
Nov 15, 2024 · What is the biological carbon pump? When sunlight hits the ocean’s surface waters, it stimulates tiny marine plants called phytoplankton to photosynthesize. This process …
Sunlit Zone - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Dec 19, 2024 · Through photosynthesis, phytoplankton also play a key role in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and are therefore essential for fighting climate change. …
Phytoplankton - NASA Earthdata
Sep 11, 2025 · 'Phytoplankton is the plant portion of the plankton, the plant community in marine and freshwater situations, that floats free in the water and contains many species of algae and …
Carbon Cycle - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
May 7, 2025 · The oceans play a particularly important role in the carbon cycle. Surface waters exchange gases with the atmosphere, absorbing and releasing carbon dioxide, oxygen, and …
Iron Fertilization - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Mar 29, 2024 · Iron fertilization is a technique that would artificially add iron to the ocean’s surface, triggering massive blooms of phytoplankton that could remove substantial amounts of …
Does the ocean produce oxygen? - Woods Hole Oceanographic …
Most algae exist as single cells that make up what we call phytoplankton. (Phyto means plant-like. Plankton are tiny organisms that float in the water.) Diatoms are single-celled algae that build …