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News Release 08-124 - Video

Ajit Subramaniam and Doug Capone discuss the impact of the Amazon River on carbon cycling.

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A large plume of nutrient-rich waters flows from the Amazon River thousands of kilometers out into the ocean. It was believed that the tropical oceans were nutrient poor and had a low carbon uptake. Biological oceanographer Ajit Subramaniam and marine scientist Doug Capone discuss their new findings which show high carbon uptake and sequestration in tropical waters as photoplankton rapidly grow, fix nitrogen, take up CO2, and sink rapidly to the bottom.

Credit: Columbia University/University of Southern California/National Science Foundation

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