The ocean is constantly stirred by currents that swirl and mix seawater creating fronts, filaments and eddies. These dynamic structures are known as ‘fine scales’, featuring spatiotemporal scales of 1-100 km and days-weeks. Fine scales alter biogeochemical gradients affecting phytoplankton productivity and carbon export, but their role in nitrogen cycling is unknown. The greatest source of bioavailable nitrogen in the ocean is nitrogen fixation performed by microbes called ‘diazotrophs’. Understanding the role of fine scales on diazotrophs requires dynamic sampling approaches at high-resolution, which is not possible with current discrete sampling methods. FIESTA/DEFINE2 will implement parallel measurements of nitrogen fixation and diazotrophs at a resolution >50 times higher than that possible today. This will allow more accurate quantifications of nitrogen inputs to the dynamic ocean, which is key to constrain its current and future role in primary production, CO2 withdrawal and climate change.
FIESTA
Funding Agency: Agence National de ReEcherce, France.
Dates: 2021-2024.
DEFINE2:
Funding Agency: LEFE, CNRS, France
Dates: 2022-2024.
IP of both: Mar Benavides.
Role : Scientific team
website: https://sites.google.com/view/marbenavides/projects/fiesta-define2
FIESTA
Funding Agency: Agence National de ReEcherce, France.
Dates: 2021-2024.
DEFINE2:
Funding Agency: LEFE, CNRS, France
Dates: 2022-2024.
IP of both: Mar Benavides.
Role : Scientific team
website: https://sites.google.com/view/marbenavides/projects/fiesta-define2