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Impacts of eddies & mixing on biogeochemical cycling in the Sargasso Sea

James Dornicik, ARMADA Master Teacher

Web Resources
  • Café Thorium, EDDIES Project- Sargasso Sea. Woods Hole Oceanographic institution
    http://www.whoi.edu/science/MCG/cafethorium/website/projects/eddies.html
    This is a description of a similar EDDY research project that is based in the Sargasso Sea.
  • EDdies Dynamics, MIxing, Export, and Species composition, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
    http://science.whoi.edu/users/mcgillic/eddies/EDDIES_Project.html
    Description of the Eddies Project and which documented eddy-driven transport of nutrients into the euphotic zone and the associated accumulation of chlorophyll.
  • Ocean Sciences; Eddies and Fronts: Mesoscale Physical-Biological-Biogeochemical Linkages in the Open Ocean IV. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
    http://www.agu.org/meetings/os06/os06-sessions/os06_OS14H.html
    This page is primarily focused on the results of the Sargasso Sea research project. It discusses both the cyclonic and anti-cyclonic eddies and their transport of nutrients.
  • Impacts of Eddies on Zooplankton Community Structure and Biogeochemical Cycling in the Open Ocean. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
    http://www.vims.edu/bio/zooplankton/EDDIES.html
    This page discussed how eddies may actually account for a significant percentage of global oceanic primary production mainly from zooplankton, in the open ocean.
  • Ocean Eddies Web site. All I Need.
    http://www.theallineed.com/ecology/06011616.htm
    This page describes a research study that was completed by the University of CapeTown that studied how eddies help transport sea water from the Indian Ocean to the South Atlantic.
  • Sea Surface Temperature Observatons from Satellite. Johns Hopkins University.
    http://henry.pha.jhu.edu/ssip/asat_int/ocean.html
    This website talks about how satellite use IR sensors d to measure the temperature across large expanses of the ocean surface. This data can then be used to permit scientists to observe ocean circulation and locate major ocean currents.
  • GYRES AND EDDIES - KISSING COUSINS of CURRENTS. Ocean World.
    http://oceanworld.tamu.edu/students/currents/currents4.htm
    This website would be quite useful in a middle school setting. It describes how Eddies and Gryes form. The site has many useful drawings and maps that would help students gain an understanding of these events.
  • Biogeochemical Tracers in a High Resolution Simulations of Ocean Circulation in the North Atlantic. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    http://mitgcm.org/projects/atlantic0.166/
    This page discusses how bathymeric data is used to model the effects of Gulf Stream upwelling in the North Atlantic.
  • Temperature and Salinity Variability in Thermohaline Staircase Layers. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    http://web.mit.edu/mit-whoi/www/academics/po/abstracts.html
    The page discussed if eddies an important contributor to subduction in the eastern subtropical gyre. They used numerical models with observations to produce a state estimate of the ocean circulation.
  • Lab Studies of Stirring by Small-Scale Geostrophic Motions. University of Rhode Island
    http://www.smast.umassd.edu/mixing/lab_studies.php
    This page describes a research experiment done at University of Rhode Island that involved using a mixing tank to study mixing in the open ocean.