{
  "abstract": "The global ocean acts as a massive reservoir for carbon dioxide, establishing ocean biogeochemistry as a primary driver of global carbon distributions [1-3]. This dynamic system is mediated by living organisms that cycle carbon and other elements through the ocean interior and air-sea interface, and is already being altered by warming, acidification, deoxygenation, and shifting nutrient supply [4]. Predicting how this role and ocean life will respond is a central unresolved challenge for Earth system science. This white paper presents the science case and a phased, multi-platform observing and modeling strategy for the Climate and the Elements of Life grand challenge, following NASA's Ocean Biology and Biogeochemistry (OBB) Research Program science vision [5]. We recommend: (1) sustained hyperspectral and polarimetric ocean color resolving the mesoscale; (2) an ocean-optimized profiling lidar for subsurface elemental cycling and physiological state; (3) continued geostationary and, eventually, Lagrange-point observations; (4) an expanded autonomous and ship-based in situ network; and (5) mass-conserving biogeochemical models and assimilation fusing these into predictive estimates of carbon cycling and air-sea exchange. Together, these elements would give the nation the capability to track how the ocean's biological regulation of global biogeochemical pathways is changing and to responsibly evaluate proposed ocean-based carbon management strategies before they are deployed at scale.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 5,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Susanne Elizabeth Craig"
    },
    {
      "name": "Joaquim Goes"
    },
    {
      "name": "Hannah Joy-Warren"
    },
    {
      "name": "Catherine Mitchell"
    },
    {
      "name": "Maria Tzortziou"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/av1jda9grj5nm.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.31223/x5gn6k",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "av1jda9grj5nm",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://eartharxiv.org/repository/view/15204/",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "bepress",
      "Atmospheric Sciences"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Biodiversity"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Biogeochemistry"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Biological carbon pump"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Biology"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Climate"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "ESAS 2028 decadal survey"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Earth Sciences"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Environmental Sciences"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Oceanography"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Physical Sciences and Mathematics"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "air-sea gas exchange"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "biogeochemical modeling"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "carbon dioxide removal"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "ocean biogeochemistry"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "ocean carbon cycle"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "ocean color"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "1910|Marine and coastal ecosystems"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7214283074",
  "pdf_url": "https://eartharxiv.org/repository/object/15204/download/26369/",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-26",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/av1jda9grj5nm.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:39Z",
      "native_id": "15204",
      "source": "eartharxiv",
      "url": "https://eartharxiv.org/repository/view/15204/"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "bepress:Biology",
      "subfield": "general"
    },
    {
      "field": "earth",
      "origin": "bepress:Atmospheric Sciences",
      "subfield": "atmospheric"
    },
    {
      "field": "earth",
      "origin": "bepress:Climate",
      "subfield": "climate"
    },
    {
      "field": "earth",
      "origin": "bepress:Environmental Sciences",
      "subfield": "environmental-science"
    },
    {
      "field": "earth",
      "origin": "bepress:Biogeochemistry",
      "subfield": "geology-geochemistry"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Carbon and the Elements of Life: Integrated Observing and Modeling of Marine Biological Carbon Cycles",
  "title_text": "Carbon and the Elements of Life: Integrated Observing and Modeling of Marine Biological Carbon Cycles",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:17:39Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/av1jda9grj5nm",
  "venue": "EarthArXiv",
  "versions": []
}