> >I thought that El Nino was a reversal of ocean currents which
> >resulted in the nutrient rich lower water layers no longer upwelling near
> >the South American coast, thus no nutrients for the algae?!
> >
> >
>
> Yes, upwelling or lack thereof, is part of the picture of El Nino on which
> I am no expert. The lack of "upwelling" due to El Nino is given as the
> reason that surface water in the Bering Sea has been so nutrient poor
> during the last couple of summers that there have been major blooms of
> coccolithophores. If it is not upwelling, then are the nutrients
> concentrated near the bottom? If the nutrients are concentrated near the
> bottom why are bottom-feeding gray whales, who feed all summer in that
> area, dying of starvation?
>
But with the nutrients at the bottom and the sunlight at the top, the
phytoplankton cannot utilise them.

> -----------------------------------------------
> John Gilbey
> FRS Marine Laboratory
> Molecular Genetics
> Victoria Road
> Aberdeen
> Scotland
> AB11 9DB
> Tel: 01224 295303
> Fax: 01224 295511
> E-mail: [log in to unmask]
> -----------------------------------------------
>
>  '
>    '
>   '  ///
> <*}}}}}}><
>      \  \
>
>

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