On the Homepage: Earth’s Phytoplankton

The image in the blue homepage area shows dominant phytoplankton types during the period 1994-1998, as determined from a high-resolution ocean and ecosystem model. Colors represent the most dominant type of phytoplankton at a given location. Four functional groups of phytoplankton in a global ocean model – red corresponds to diatoms (big, need silica), yellow to other big phytoplankton, green to Prochlorococcus-like (small, cannot use NO₃) and cyan to other small phytoplankton. The model contains flow fields from 1994-1998 (ECCO2), inorganic nutrients, 78 species of phytoplankton, zooplankton and particulate and dissolved organic matter.