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Science 30 March 2001:
Vol. 291. no. 5513, pp. 2594 - 2597
DOI: 10.1126/science.1055071
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Reports

Biospheric Primary Production During an ENSO Transition

Michael J. Behrenfeld,1* James T. Randerson,2 Charles R. McClain,1 Gene C. Feldman,1 Sietse O. Los,3 Compton J. Tucker,1 Paul G. Falkowski,4 Christopher B. Field,5 Robert Frouin,6 Wayne E. Esaias,1 Dorota D. Kolber,4 Nathan H. Pollack7

The Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) provides global monthly measurements of both oceanic phytoplankton chlorophyll biomass and light harvesting by land plants. These measurements allowed the comparison of simultaneous ocean and land net primary production (NPP) responses to a major El Niño to La Niña transition. Between September 1997 and August 2000, biospheric NPP varied by 6 petagrams of carbon per year (from 111 to 117 petagrams of carbon per year). Increases in ocean NPP were pronounced in tropical regions where El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) impacts on upwelling and nutrient availability were greatest. Globally, land NPP did not exhibit a clear ENSO response, although regional changes were substantial.

1 National Aeronautic and Space Administration, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
2 California Institute of Technology, Divisions of Engineering and Applied Science and Geological and Planetary Sciences, Mail Stop 100-23, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
3 Department of Geography, University of Wales Swansea, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK.
4 Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers, State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA.
5 Carnegie Institution of Washington, Department of Plant Biology, 260 Panama Street, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
6 Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 8605 La Jolla Shores Drive, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
7 Science Systems and Applications Incorporated, National Aeronautic and Space Administration, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: mjb{at}neptune.gsfc.nasa.gov

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)