Between cells and satellites: modern investigations resolving the roles of phytoplankton in global scale processes

Speaker

Jason Graff
Department of Botany & Plant Pathology
Oregon State University

Abstract

Phytoplankton play critical roles in the surface ocean as primary producers but also influence global scale processes ranging from atmospheric aerosol composition and cloud dynamics to the export of carbon to the deep ocean. Modern, multi-platform oceanographic field programs endeavor to resolve complex interactions in plankton communities across multiple spatial, temporal, and ecosystem scales. By doing so, these programs hope to quantify and contextualize these interactions and their roles within the global climate system and carbon cycle. Two NASA field programs, the North Atlantic Aerosols and Marine Ecosystems Study (NAAMES) and Export Processes in the Ocean from Remote Sensing (EXPORTS), aim to 1) better understand the annual cycle of plankton and its impacts on the atmosphere and cloud microphysical properties and 2) measure the fate of carbon and its transformation from the surface to the deep ocean, respectively. Comprehensive measurements, well beyond a single person, lab, or expertise, are required to successfully complete these missions. I will discuss my work and collaborations prior to and as part of these field programs, including linking phytoplankton stocks to optical properties, modeling production and growth rates, and photophysiology. I will describe how this work and collaborations have been forged and what these as well as my other research interests may provide for the future of satellite applications.

Speaker Bio

Jason Graff is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology at Oregon State University in the Phytoplankton Ecophysiology Lab. He earned his Ph.D. (2010) from The Graduate School of Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island, investigating particle colonization with an emphasis on the processes regulating the interactions of pathogenic bacteria with marine phytoplankton. Dr. Graff’s current research focuses on phytoplankton carbon stocks, physiology, in-water optics and satellite remote sensing applications.