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1. Microbial iron limitation in the ocean’s twilight zone

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07905-z  

   Li, Jingxuan; Babcock-Adams, Lydia; Boiteau, Rene M; McIlvin, Matthew R; Manck, Lauren E; Sieber, Matthias; Lanning, Nathan T; Bundy, Randelle M; Bian, Xiaopeng; Ștreangă, Iulia-Mădălina; et al (September 2024, Nature)
2. Twilight Zone Observation Network: A Distributed Observation Network for Sustained, Real-Time Interrogation of the Ocean's Twilight Zone

   https://doi.org/10.4031/MTSJ.55.3.46  

   Thorrold, Simon R.; Adams, Allan; Bucklin, Ann; Buesseler, Ken; Fischer, Godi; Govindarajan, Annette; Hoagland, Porter; Jin, Di; Lavery, Andone; Llopez, Joel; et al (May 2021, Marine Technology Society Journal)

   Abstract The ocean's twilight zone (TZ) is a vast, globe-spanning region of the ocean. Home to myriad fishes and invertebrates, mid-water fishes alone may constitute 10 times more biomass than all current ocean wild-caught fisheries combined. Life in the TZ supports ocean food webs and plays a critical role in carbon capture and sequestration. Yet the ecological roles that mesopelagic animals play in the ocean remain enigmatic. This knowledge gap has stymied efforts to determine the effects that extraction of mesopelagic biomass by industrial fisheries, or alterations due to climate shifts, may have on ecosystem services provided by the open ocean. We propose to develop a scalable, distributed observation network to provide sustained interrogation of the TZ in the northwest Atlantic. The network will leverage a “tool-chest” of emerging and enabling technologies including autonomous, unmanned surface and underwater vehicles and swarms of low-cost “smart” floats. Connectivity among in-water assets will allow rapid assimilation of data streams to inform adaptive sampling efforts. The TZ observation network will demonstrate a bold new step towards the goal of continuously observing vast regions of the deep ocean, significantly improving TZ biomass estimates and understanding of the TZ's role in supporting ocean food webs and sequestering carbon. 

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3. Longwave radiative effect of the cloud twilight zone

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-020-0636-8  

   Eytan, Eshkol; Koren, Ilan; Altaratz, Orit; Kostinski, Alexander B.; Ronen, Ayala (October 2020, Nature Geoscience)

   null (Ed.)
4. Temperature controls carbon cycling and biological evolution in the ocean twilight zone

   https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abb6643  

   Boscolo-Galazzo, Flavia; Crichton, Katherine A.; Ridgwell, Andy; Mawbey, Elaine M.; Wade, Bridget S.; Pearson, Paul N. (March 2021, Science)

   Theory suggests that the ocean’s biological carbon pump, the process by which organic matter is produced at the surface and transferred to the deep ocean, is sensitive to temperature because temperature controls photosynthesis and respiration rates. We applied a combined data-modeling approach to investigate carbon and nutrient recycling rates across the world ocean over the past 15 million years of global cooling. We found that the efficiency of the biological carbon pump increased with ocean cooling as the result of a temperature-dependent reduction in the rate of remineralization (degradation) of sinking organic matter. Increased food delivery at depth prompted the development of new deep-water niches, triggering deep plankton evolution and the expansion of the mesopelagic “twilight zone” ecosystem. 

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5. DOSI Policy Brief: Activities in the twilight zone require a precautionary approach

   Victorero, Lissette; Iglesias, Ilysa; Gianni, Matthew; Butfield, Bernadette; Baker, Maria; Gjerde, Kristina; Thomas, Elin (September 2025, DOSI Deep-Ocean Stewardship Initiative)

   Policy brief summarizing the results of a global survey of mesopelagic experts to identify science and policy gaps 

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