![]() In a slightly more encouraging vein, carbon fixation could accelerate at high latitudes, such as the North Pacific, as its frigid waters warm. If that happens, it will alter ecosystems, diminish fisheries, and leave more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. As our climate warms, we concluded, we can expect lower ocean carbon fixation in much of the world's oceans 4. ![]() The warm top layer of these stratified waters therefore contained reduced nutrients, reduced phytoplankton growth, and diminished pumping to the deep sea. Water becomes less dense as it warms and is more likely to float without mixing with the cold, nutrient-rich waters below. As the climate warmed between 19, we found that the upper layer of the ocean got warmer. In a study I worked on that was led by Michael Behrenfeld, now at Oregon State University, researchers cross-checked satellite measurements of ocean chlorophyll with global climate measurements between 19. The sunlight in the epipelagic zone allows photosynthesis to occur. The epipelagic zone is also known as the photic or euphotic zone, and can exist in lakes as well as the ocean. It reaches from the surface to about 200 meters (660 feet) deep. ![]() Ominously, global warming has begun to slow down this phytoplankton-driven pump. The epipelagic zone (1) is the sunlit upper layer of the ocean.
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