EFFECT OF NITRATE VARIATION ON ATLANTIC OCEAN'S PRODUCTIVITY

ABSTRACT Nitrate is the bio limiting Nutrient for phytoplankton growth and export productions, marine food webs and carbon sequestration in many regions of the global ocean. Nitrate variations are linked to factors like upwelling and climate-driven changes can cascade through trophic levels. Geographical locations which are the coordinates (latitude and longitude) were taken at Atlantic Ocean using geographic information system (GIS) the locations were taken at three different regions including: North Atlantic, Equatorial regions and South Atlantic. Each region has fifteen locations making it a total of forty-five location. Values were extracted from the world ocean database 2018 (WOD18) and used to match the corresponding nitrate values and depth ranging from (0m, 100m, 200m, 300m, 400m, 500m, 750m, 1000m, 1500m, 2000m, 2500m, 4000m, and 5000m). The abundance of nitrate was determined using various statistical tools. The result shows that sample location (N7) has the highest concentration of nitrate at 750m depth and the lowest concentration at sample location (N6) at 100m depth. Nitrate concentration was higher at the surface ocean suspected to be caused by upwelling at 100m – 2000m depth where nutrient rich waters are brought from the deeper ocean to the surface ocean providing an influx in nitrate, seasonal and temporal variations also influence nitrate availability in the oceans. The result further brings forth the compelling insights of the nitrate concentration and its depth variability on how its affect the Atlantic Ocean’s productivity, it also shows the trends of nitrate availability. In conclusion, productivity takes places in the surface ocean where there is abundance of nutrients and nitrate being inclusive is higher in the surface ocean.