Five-Week NASA Mission Will Track Arctic Phytoplankton Trends - Blooms Peaking Earlier Than In Past

[hatrack]

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US space agency said Tuesday it is sending a team of scientists on the second and final mission of a NASA field study of how melting Arctic ice is changing the life cycles of sea creatures.

The five-week mission, which kicks off Saturday, focuses on tiny organisms called phytoplankton, whose population blooms can offer clues about the wider health of the ocean ecosystem and how a warming climate may change the ocean's ability to absorb carbon from the atmosphere.

Phytoplankton blooms in the Arctic have been observed to peak as many as 50 days earlier than they did a dozen years ago, a development that could have implications for the larger food web, scientists have said.

The microscopic organisms are the base of the food chain and drive the food and reproductive cycles of fish, seabirds and polar bears. How larger animals may react to phytoplankton changes remains unknown.

EDIT

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110621/ts_afp/scienceusnasaoceanwarmingarctic_20110621214537;_ylt=AomMJjOrUYGuqg406r22OjmFOrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTM3bmxwamQ3BGFzc2V0A2FmcC8yMDExMDYyMS9zY2llbmNldXNuYXNhb2NlYW53YXJtaW5nYXJjdGljBHBvcwMxMwRzZWMDeW5fcGFnaW5hdGVfc3VtbWFyeV9saXN0BHNsawNuYXNhdG9lbWJhcms-