Amazon River Plume

Transcriptional Basis of Sinking

During the DeepDOM cruise, we transited through the Amazon plume. The Amazon river is responsible for ~15% of all fresh water input to the world’s oceans. Consequently, this region represents a unique biogeochemical environment, characterized by low salinity and rich in terrestrial carbon and nutrients. In the low salinity lens of the plume, we discovered a blooming species of Coscinodiscus, a centric diatom. We were able to monitor its physiological status in situ, perform field incubation experiments, and recover and isolate from this bloom to study in culture.