Articles | Volume 19, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-19-93-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Special issue:
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-19-93-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Model description paper
| 
06 Jan 2026
Model description paper |
| 06 Jan 2026
| 06 Jan 2026
Seasonal cycles of the carbon export flux in the ocean: insights from the SISSOMA mechanistic model
Athanasios Kandylas
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
VKR Centre for Ocean Life, National Institute of Aquatic Resources, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
Andre William Visser
VKR Centre for Ocean Life, National Institute of Aquatic Resources, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
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The Nutrient-Unicellular-Multicellular model library simulates marine plankton ecosystems, structuring predator-prey dynamics by body size. It integrates feeding strategies in single-cell plankton and copepod life stages, essential for understanding their growth, survival, and predator-prey interactions. Validated with real data, this user-friendly tool recreates ecosystems across scales, offering insights for marine ecology and biogeochemistry.
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Global models largely rely on empirical estimates of the rate at which this material is produced and sinks. Here we propose a mechanistic model that tries to capture the most important processes regulating the size and density of particulate organic material from when it is produced by living organisms, through its aggregation and fragmentation into particles of different size and density, degradation by microbes and eventual sinking into the ocean’s interior.
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The Nutrient-Unicellular-Multicellular model library simulates marine plankton ecosystems, structuring predator-prey dynamics by body size. It integrates feeding strategies in single-cell plankton and copepod life stages, essential for understanding their growth, survival, and predator-prey interactions. Validated with real data, this user-friendly tool recreates ecosystems across scales, offering insights for marine ecology and biogeochemistry.
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Global models largely rely on empirical estimates of the rate at which this material is produced and sinks. Here we propose a mechanistic model that tries to capture the most important processes regulating the size and density of particulate organic material from when it is produced by living organisms, through its aggregation and fragmentation into particles of different size and density, degradation by microbes and eventual sinking into the ocean’s interior.
Jérôme Pinti, Tim DeVries, Tommy Norin, Camila Serra-Pompei, Roland Proud, David A. Siegel, Thomas Kiørboe, Colleen M. Petrik, Ken H. Andersen, Andrew S. Brierley, and André W. Visser
Biogeosciences, 20, 997–1009, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-997-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-997-2023, 2023
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Large numbers of marine organisms such as zooplankton and fish perform daily vertical migration between the surface (at night) and the depths (in the daytime). This fascinating migration is important for the carbon cycle, as these organisms actively bring carbon to depths where it is stored away from the atmosphere for a long time. Here, we quantify the contributions of different animals to this carbon drawdown and storage and show that fish are important to the biological carbon pump.
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Short summary
The ocean plays an important role in regulating the Earth's climate by storing excess atmospheric carbon in its interior mainly through the sinking of small organic particles originating from planktonic organisms. Once produced these particles are constantly being transformed (sticking together, breaking into smaller pieces and being consumed by microbes). Here, we try to understand the dynamics of these processes by testing a variety of factors, such as stickiness and water column mixing.
The ocean plays an important role in regulating the Earth's climate by storing excess...
Special issue