In the ocean, the availability of nitrogen is one of the most influential factors controlling primary productivity. Biological N₂ fixation, i.e., the reduction of atmospheric N₂ gas to biologically available ammonium, constitutes the major source of new N for the surface ocean. In this article, we reveal exceptionally high rates of N₂ fixation (among the highest over the world ocean) in the western tropical South Pacific, dominated by the cyanobacteria Trichodesmium.

Biological dinitrogen (N₂) fixation provides the major source of new nitrogen (N) to the open ocean. Yet the fate of the diazotroph-derived N (DDN) in the planktonic food web is poorly understood. This study provides the first quantification of DDN release and transfer to phytoplankton, bacteria and zooplankton communities in open ocean waters, under contrasting N₂ fixation activity and diversity

The temperature sensitivity of soil carbon loss is a critical parameter for projecting future CO₂. Isolating soil temperature response in the field is challenging due to difficulties isolating root and microbial respiration. We use a database of direct-warming soil carbon changes to generate a new global temperature sensitivity. Incorporating this into Earth system models reduces projected soil carbon. But it also shows that variation due to this parameter is as high as all other causes.

Measurements of the trace gas carbonyl sulfide (OCS) are helpful in quantifying photosynthesis at previously unknowable temporal and spatial scales. While CO₂ is both consumed and produced within ecosystems, OCS is mostly produced in the oceans or from specific industries, and destroyed in plant leaves in proportion to CO₂. This review summarizes the advancements we have made in the understanding of OCS exchange and applications to vital ecosystem water and carbon cycle questions.

The Southern Ocean accounts for a large portion of the variability in oceanic CO₂ uptake. However, the drivers of these changes are not understood due to a lack of observations. In this study, we used an ensemble of gap-filling methods to estimate surface CO₂. We found that winter was a more important driver of longer-term variability driven by changes in wind stress. Summer variability of CO₂ was driven primarily by increases in primary production.