BREATHE
Priming the ocean’s carbon pump Biodesign Institute oceanographer Susanne Neuer researches the microscopic organisms that drive the ocean’s absorption of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere Story by K R I S T I N B A I R D R AT T I N I Photo by J A R O D O P P E R M A N
When it comes to climate change and carbon reduction, Susanne Neuer is thinking small — extremely small. The ASU biological oceanographer is an expert on marine phytoplankton, microscopic algae found in the sunlit zone of waters all over the globe. As Neuer is quick to point out, phytoplankton may be small — too small individually to be seen with the naked eye — but they are mighty. Their size belies their critical importance to the biological carbon pump, the primary biological mechanism in the ocean’s absorption of vast quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. “The oceans take up a quarter to a third of all CO2 emissions,” she says. “Phytoplankton are one of the key players for how that works.” 2 6 S P R I N G 2 0 1 9
