Advances in modeling ocean primary production and its role in the global carbon cycle

The oceans contain a large fraction of the carbon in the Earth's biosphere. Therefore understanding the global carbon cycle, particularly the changes in atmospheric CO₂ and their effects on climate, requires an accounting of CO₂ exchanges between the atmosphere and the ocean. Primary production in the ocean, i.e. uptake and assimilation of CO₂ by phytoplankton, plays an important role in this exchange. Ocean production is linked to nutrient cycles, mixing and circulation on a number of scales. Several university research groups are using Coastal Zone Color Scanner imagery to study ocean production and the links between physical and biological oceanographic processes and the carbon cycle. We review their recent accomplishments.