A proteinaceous deep-sea coral’s view of biogeochemistry and ecosystem change above

Oceanic biological ecosystem variability is often linked to changes in sea surface temperature (SST) but SST is a reflection of dynamic processes which influence the stability of the water column, nutrient input, entrainment, and advection. Coherent and significant North Pacific spatio-temporal SST and sea level pressure (SLP) patterns at seasonal to inter-decadal timescales imply a close coupling of atmospheric and ocean dynamics, so it is not surprising that there are biological ecosystem responses. My research group has been coupling high resolution paleorecords derived from deep-sea proteinaceous coral together with new compound-specific amino acid isotope (CSI- AA) measurements to create reconstructions of both biogeochemical change (e.g., source of nitrogen) and basic plankton ecosystem shifts crossing the North Pacific. I will highlight recent work exploring the response of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre to large-scale climate forcing and delve into some of the outstanding questions associated with utilizing these deep-sea “living sediment traps.”

Speaker: Thomas Guilderson, Lawrence Livermore National Labs