Which is the physiological response of phytoplankton to global warming?

Living Planet Fellowship research project carried out by Marco Bellacicco. Phytoplankton is considered to be responsible for approximately 50% of the planetary primary production and is at the basis of the trophic chain. Large scale factors such as climate, ocean circulation, and mostly anthropogenic activities, affect phytoplankton biomass and distribution. For all of these reasons, …

The Quasi-Analytical Algorithm was developed to derive inherent optical properties by analytically inverting the spectral remote-sensing reflectance. It is the algorithm used in the ESA Ocean-colour CCI project to retrieve particulate optical backscattering (bbp). Due to the high uncertainties still associated to QAA global retrievals of bbp, reliable accuracy estimates of the QAA are essential …

The quality of estimations for carbon export and sequestration depends on how well the spatio-temporal dynamics of non-algal particles in open ocean are understood. Non-algal particles include organisms such as bacteria or viruses, cell debris and other organic particles, as well as mineral particles, bubbles and plastics. The accumulation of these particles is only partially …

Recent research by ESA Living Planet Fellow Marco Bellacicco in the frame of project PHYSIOGLOB gives new insights on how the choice of the regression method influences the derived bio-optical relationships in optical and satellite oceanographic studies. The authors compare the results obtained with diverse regression methods on the same bio-optical data set and quantify …