ALBERT

Description: At present the Arabian Sea has a permanent oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) at water depths between about 100 m and 1200 m. Active denitrification in this OMZ is recorded by enhanced δ15N values in the sediments. Sediment cores show a δ15N increase from early to late Holocene which is contrary to the trend in other regions of water column denitrification. We calculated composite sea surface temperature (SST) and δ15N in time slices of 1000 years of the last 25 ka to better understand the reasons for the establishment of the Arabian Sea OMZ and its response to changes in the Asian monsoon system. Pleistocene stadial δ15N values of 4–6 ‰ suggest that denitrification was inactive or weak. During interstadials (IS) and the entire Holocene, δ15N values of 〉 7 ‰ indicate enhanced denitrification and a stronger OMZ. This coincides with active monsoonal upwelling along the western margins of the basin as indicated by low SST. Stronger ventilation of the OMZ in the early to mid-Holocene period during the most intense southwest monsoon and vigorous upwelling is reflected in lower δ15N compared to the late Holocene. The displacement of the core of the OMZ from the region of maximum productivity in the western Arabian Sea to its present position in the northeast was established during the last 4–5 ka. This was probably caused by (i) rising oxygen consumption due to enhanced northeast monsoon driven biological productivity, in combination with (ii) reduced ventilation due to a longer residence time of OMZ waters.

Description: In this study, data obtained from a sediment trap experiments off South Java are analyzed and compared to satellite-derived information on primary production and data collected by deep-moored sediment traps in the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. The aim was to study the relative importance of primary production and the ballast effect on the organic carbon export and the CO2 uptake of the biological carbon pumps. Therefore, data obtained from sediment trap experiments carried out in other ocean basins were also integrated into the data analysis and a four-box model was developed. Our data showed that the organic carbon flux in the highly-productive upwelling system in the Arabian Sea was similar to those in the low productive system off South Java. Off South Java as in other river-influenced regions, lithogenic matter supplied from land mainly controls the organic carbon flux via its ballast effect in sinking particles, whereas carbonate produced by marine organisms appears to be the main ballast material in the high productive regions. Since the carbonate flux tends to increase with an increasing export production, it is difficult to quantify the relative importance of productivity and the ballast effect on the organic carbon flux into the deep sea. However, the export of organic matter into the deep sea represents a loss of nutrients for the pelagic ecosystems, which needs to be balanced by mode water nutrient supply into the seasonal thermocline to sustain the productivity of the pelagic system. The amount of preformed nutrients utilized during the formation of the exported organic matter strongly influences the impact of the ballast effect on the CO2 uptake of the organic carbon pump. Accordingly, this is stronger at higher latitudes where preformed nutrients are formed than at lower latitudes where the euphotic zone is nutrient depleted. Nevertheless, the ballast effect enhances the export of organic matter into the deep sea and favors the sedimentation of organic matter in river-influenced regions. Since globally 〉 80 % of organic carbon burial occurs in river-dominated systems, the lithogenic ballast is assumed to play an important role in the Earth’s climate system on geological time scales.

Description: At present, the Arabian Sea has a permanent oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) at water depths between about 100 and 1200 m. Active denitrification in the upper part of the OMZ is recorded by enhanced δ15N values in the sediments. Sediment cores show a δ15N increase during the middle and late Holocene, which is contrary to the trend in the other two regions of water column denitrification in the eastern tropical North and South Pacific. We calculated composite sea surface temperature (SST) and δ15N ratios in time slices of 1000 years of the last 25 kyr to better understand the reasons for the establishment of the Arabian Sea OMZ and its response to changes in the Asian monsoon system. Low δ15N values of 4–7 ‰ during the last glacial maximum (LGM) and stadials (Younger Dryas and Heinrich events) suggest that denitrification was inactive or weak during Pleistocene cold phases, while warm interstadials (ISs) had elevated δ15N. Fast changes in upwelling intensities and OMZ ventilation from the Antarctic were responsible for these strong millennial-scale variations during the glacial. During the entire Holocene δ15N values 〉 6 ‰ indicate a relatively stable OMZ with enhanced denitrification. The OMZ develops parallel to the strengthening of the SW monsoon and monsoonal upwelling after the LGM. Despite the relatively stable climatic conditions of the Holocene, the δ15N records show regionally different trends in the Arabian Sea. In the upwelling areas in the western part of the basin, δ15N values are lower during the mid-Holocene (4.2–8.2 ka BP) compared to the late Holocene (

Description: Data obtained from long-term sediment trap experiments in the Indian Ocean in conjunction with satellite observations illustrate the influence of primary production and the ballast effect on organic carbon flux into the deep sea. They suggest that primary production is the main control on the spatial variability of organic carbon fluxes at most of our study sites in the Indian Ocean, except at sites influenced by river discharges. At these sites the spatial variability of organic carbon flux is influenced by lithogenic matter content. To quantify the impact of lithogenic matter on the organic carbon flux, the densities of the main ballast minerals, their flux rates and seawater properties were used to calculate sinking speeds of material intercepted by sediment traps. Sinking speeds in combination with satellite-derived export production rates allowed us to compute organic carbon fluxes. Flux calculations imply that lithogenic matter ballast increases organic carbon fluxes at all sampling sites in the Indian Ocean by enhancing sinking speeds and reducing the time of organic matter respiration in the water column. We calculated that lithogenic matter content in aggregates and pellets enhances organic carbon flux rates on average by 45 % and by up to 62 % at trap locations in the river-influenced regions of the Indian Ocean. Such a strong lithogenic matter ballast effect explains the fact that organic carbon fluxes are higher in the low-productive southern Java Sea compared to the high-productive western Arabian Sea. It also implies that land use changes and the associated enhanced transport of lithogenic matter from land into the ocean may significantly affect the CO2 uptake of the organic carbon pump in the receiving ocean areas.

Description: Data obtained from long-term sediment trap experiments in the Indian Ocean were analysed in conjunction with satellite-derived observations and results obtained from a box model to study the influence of primary production and the ballast effect on organic carbon flux into the deep sea. The results are used to better understand the associated impacts on the CO2 uptake of the organic carbon pump. In line with other findings derived from global data sets, our results suggest that a preferential export of organic matter in slower-sinking particles reduces the transfer efficiency of exported organic matter in high-productive systems compared with low-productive regions. The resulting enhanced respiration of organic matter maintains the high nutrient availability in the surface ocean and thus the high productivity during the summer and winter bloom in the Arabian Sea. In turn, mineral ballast is essential for the transport of organic matter and nutrients into the deep sea. The additional lithogenic ballast effect can increase organic carbon fluxes by 60%. Our model results indicate that lithogenic ballast enhances the CO2 uptake of the organic carbon pump by increasing the amount of nutrients utilised by the organic carbon pump to bind CO2. By enhancing the export of organic matter into the deep sea, the ballast effect increases the residence time of these nutrients in the ocean. They lose the attached CO2 if they are introduced into the surface ocean at higher latitude, where the lack of light prevents photosynthesis in winter. Considering the impact of the lithogenic ballast effect on the organic carbon export into the deep sea and the enhanced mobilisation of lithogenic matter due to land-use changes, it is assumed that humans influence the CO2 uptake of the organic carbon pump, which might hold relevance for the discussion about the anthropogenic CO2 uptake of the ocean.