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Results of the EPOCA experiment on ocean acidification in
Svalbard
Do the smallest plankton organisms determine the future of
the ocean? A five-week long field experiment of the European Project on Ocean
Acidification (EPOCA) shows that pico- and nanophytoplankton benefit from
higher carbon dioxide concentrations in the water, causing an imbalance in the
food web. In addition, the carbon export to the deep ocean and the production
of the climate-cooling gas dimethyl sulfide are diminished – two important
functions for the global climate. A special issue of the European Geosciences
Union’s journal Biogeosciences compiles the results of the study which took
place in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard, in 2010. It is the first of four long-term
studies using the Kiel KOSMOS mesocosms under the direction of the GEOMAR
Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel.