Phosphorus deficiency in the Atlantic: An emerging paradigm in oceanography

Abstract

Nitrogen, iron, and silica are widely considered to be the most important nutrients that limit phytoplankton growth in the world's oceans. Though clearly important in lakes, the role of phosphorus has been largely ignored in the ocean. In part, this is because of early studies that suggested there was excess phosphate (P) relative to the needs of the phytoplankton in open ocean waters. Thanks to recent studies at the Hawaiian Ocean Time (HOT) series station (Station ALOHA) in the North Pacific subtropical gyre [ Karl et al ., 2001, and references therein], there is a growing appreciation of the potential importance of phosphorus as a limiting nutrient in subtropical Pacific waters.