Project Grant 2317998

This $212,172 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Polar Programs aims to improve understanding of how different phytoplankton species affect carbon fluxes in the Southern Ocean. The researchers from the University of Washington will map phytoplankton community composition and characterize the physical environment to estimate how much carbon enters the ocean, is exported to the deep ocean, and the total amount of phytoplankton. By synthesizing modeled phytoplankton community composition with estimates of carbon fluxes, the project will quantify how efficiently different phytoplankton taxa export carbon to the deep ocean. This research is intended to help constrain climate projections by better understanding the role of phytoplankton diversity in Southern Ocean carbon fluxes.