[DLS] Marina Lévy (CNRS)

Rethinking the North Atlantic Spring Bloom: From Finescale Fonts to Basin-Scale Overturning Circulation

The North Atlantic spring bloom is one of the most spectacular seasonal biological events in the global ocean. Its basic ingredients seem quite simple: winter mixing replenishes nutrients, increasing springtime stratification trigger rapid phytoplankton growth, and nutrient depletion eventually brings the bloom to an end. But how well does this classical one-dimensional picture capture what actually controls phytoplankton variability in the North Atlantic, and its response to a changing climate? In this talk, I will revisit the North Atlantic bloom across a hierarchy of spatial and temporal scales. From mesoscale fronts to basin-scale overturning, and from individual seasons to historical changes, marine heat waves and climate projections toward 2100, the North Atlantic bloom emerges as the product of interacting processes across scales.

EAPS Department Lecture Series —

Weekly talks aimed to bring together the entire EAPS community, given by leading thinkers in the areas of geology, geophysics, geobiology, geochemistry, atmospheric science, oceanography, climatology, and planetary science. Runs concurrently with class 12.S501.

Contact: eapsinfo@mit.edu