ALBERT

Description: Stable isotope compositions can potentially be used to trace atmospheric Cd inputs to the surface ocean and anthropogenic Cd emissions to the atmosphere. Both of these applications may provide valuable insights into the effects of anthropogenic activities on the cycling of Cd in the environment. However, a lack of constraints for the Cd isotope compositions of atmospheric aerosols is currently hindering such studies. Here, we present stable Cd isotope data for aerosols collected over the Tropical Atlantic Ocean. The samples feature variable proportions of mineral dust-derived and anthropogenic Cd, yet exhibit similar isotope compositions, thus negating the distinction of these Cd sources using isotopic signatures in this region. Isotopic variability between these two atmospheric Cd sources may be identified in other areas, and thus warrants further investigation. Regardless, these data provide important initial constraints on the isotope composition of atmospheric Cd inputs to the ocean.

Description: Our study followed the seasonal cycling of soluble (SFe), colloidal (CFe), dissolved (DFe), total dissolvable (TDFe), labile particulate (LPFe) and total particulate (TPFe) iron in the Celtic Sea (NE Atlantic Ocean). Preferential uptake of SFe occurred during the spring bloom, preceding the removal of CFe. Uptake and export of Fe during the spring bloom, coupled with a reduction in vertical exchange, led to Fe deplete surface waters (〈0.2 nM DFe; 0.11 nM LPFe, 0.45 nM TDFe, 1.84 nM TPFe) during summer stratification. Below the seasonal thermocline, DFe concentrations increased from spring to autumn, mirroring NO3- and consistent with supply from remineralised sinking organic material, and cycled independently of particulate Fe over seasonal timescales. These results demonstrate that summer Fe availability is comparable to the seasonally Fe limited Ross Sea shelf, and therefore is likely low enough to affect phytoplankton growth and species composition.

Description: Anthropogenic activities have resulted in enhanced lead (Pb) emissions to the environment over the past century, mainly through the combustion of leaded gasoline. Here, we present the first combined dissolved (DPb), labile (LpPb) and particulate (PPb) Pb dataset from the Northeast Atlantic (Celtic Sea) since the phasing out of leaded gasoline in Europe. Concentrations of DPb in surface waters have decreased by 4-fold over the last four decades. We demonstrate that anthropogenic Pb is transported from the Mediterranean Sea over long distances (〉2500 km). Benthic DPb fluxes exceeded the atmospheric Pb flux in the region, indicating the importance of sediments as a contemporary Pb source. A strong positive correlation between DPb, PPb and LpPb indicates a dynamic equilibrium between the phases and the potential for particles to ‘buffer’ the DPb pool. This study provides insights into Pb biogeochemical cycling and demonstrates the potential of Pb in constraining ocean circulation patterns.

Description: The supply and bioavailability of iron (Fe) controls primary productivity and N2-fixation in large parts of the global ocean. An important, yet poorly quantified, source to the ocean is particulate Fe (pFe). Here we present the first combined dataset of particulate, labile-particulate (L-pFe) and dissolved Fe (dFe) from the (sub)-tropical North Atlantic. We show a strong relationship between L-pFe and dFe, indicating a dynamic equilibrium between these two phases whereby particles ‘buffer’ dFe and maintain the elevated concentrations observed. Moreover, L-pFe can increase the overall ‘available’ (L-pFe + dFe) Fe pool by up to 55%. The lateral shelf flux of this available Fe was similar in magnitude to observed soluble aerosol-Fe deposition, a comparison that has not been previously considered. These findings demonstrate that L-pFe is integral to Fe cycling and hence plays a role in regulating carbon cycling, warranting its’ inclusion in Fe budgets and biogeochemical models.

Description: Volcanic ash deposition to the ocean forms a natural source of iron (Fe) to surface water microbial communities. Inputs of lithogenic material may also facilitate Fe removal through scavenging. Combining dissolved Fe (dFe) and thorium-234 observations alongside modelling, we investigate scavenging of Fe in the North Atlantic following the Eyjafjallajökull volcanic eruption. Under typical conditions biogenic particles dominate scavenging, whereas ash particles dominate during the eruption. The size of particles is important as smaller scavenging particles can become saturated with surface-associated ions. Model simulations indicate that ash deposition associated with Eyjafjallajökull likely led to net Fe removal. Our model suggests a three-fold greater stimulation of biological activity if ash deposition had occurred later in the growing season when the region was Fe-limited. The implications of ash particle-scavenging, eruption timing and particle saturation need to be considered when assessing the impact of ash deposition on the ocean Fe cycle and productivity.

Description: Marine carbonate chemistry measurements have been carried out annually since 2009 during UK research cruises along the Extended Ellett Line (EEL), a hydrographic transect in the northeast Atlantic Ocean. The EEL intersects several water masses that are key to the global thermohaline circulation, and therefore the cruises sample a region in which it is critical to monitor secular physical and biogeochemical changes. We have combined results from these EEL cruises with existing quality-controlled observational data syntheses to produce a hydrographic time series for the EEL from 1981 to 2013. This reveals multidecadal increases in dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) throughout the water column, with a near-surface maximum rate of 1.800.45 mu molkg(-1)yr(-1). Anthropogenic CO2 accumulation was assessed, using simultaneous changes in apparent oxygen utilization (AOU) and total alkalinity (TA) as proxies for the biogeochemical processes that influence DIC. The stable carbon isotope composition of DIC (C-13(DIC)) was also determined and used as an independent test of our method. We calculated a volume-integrated anthropogenic CO2 accumulation rate of 2.80.4mgCm(-3)yr(-1) along the EEL, which is about double the global mean. The anthropogenic CO2 component accounts for only 316% of the total DIC increase. The remainder is derived from increased organic matter remineralization, which we attribute to the lateral redistribution of water masses that accompanies subpolar gyre contraction. Output from a general circulation ecosystem model demonstrates that spatiotemporal heterogeneity in the observations has not significantly biased our multidecadal rate of change calculations and indicates that the EEL observations have been tracking distal changes in the surrounding North Atlantic and Nordic Seas.

Description: In the vast Low Nutrient Low-Chlorophyll (LNLC) Ocean, the vertical nutrient supply from the subsurface to the sunlit surface waters is low, and atmospheric contribution of nutrients may be one order of magnitude greater over short timescales. The short turnover time of atmospheric Fe and N supply (〈1 month for nitrate) further supports deposition being an important source of nutrients in LNLC regions. Yet, the extent to which atmospheric inputs are impacting biological activity and modifying the carbon balance in oligotrophic environments has not been constrained. Here, we quantify and compare the biogeochemical impacts of atmospheric deposition in LNLC regions using both a compilation of experimental data and model outputs. A metadata-analysis of recently conducted field and laboratory bioassay experiments reveals complex responses, and the overall impact is not a simple “fertilization effect of increasing phytoplankton biomass” as observed in HNLC regions. Although phytoplankton growth may be enhanced, increases in bacterial activity and respiration result in weakening of biological carbon sequestration. The application of models using climatological or time-averaged non-synoptic deposition rates produced responses that were generally much lower than observed in the bioassay experiments. We demonstrate that experimental data and model outputs show better agreement on short timescale (days to weeks) when strong synoptic pulse of aerosols deposition, similar in magnitude to those observed in the field and introduced in bioassay experiments, is superimposed over the mean atmospheric deposition fields. These results suggest that atmospheric impacts in LNLC regions have been underestimated by models, at least at daily to weekly timescales, as they typically overlook large synoptic variations in atmospheric deposition and associated nutrient and particle inputs. Inclusion of the large synoptic variability of atmospheric input, and improved representation and parameterization of key processes that respond to atmospheric deposition, is required to better constrain impacts in ocean biogeochemical models. This is critical for understanding and prediction of current and future functioning of LNLC regions and their contribution to the global carbon cycle.

Description: The cyanobacterium Trichodesmium is responsible for a significant proportion of the annual "new" nitrogen introduced into the global ocean. Despite being arguably the best studied marine diazotroph, the factors controlling the distribution and growth of Trichodesmium remain a subject of debate, with sea surface temperature, the partial pressure of CO2, and nutrients including iron (Fe) and phosphorus (P), all suggested to be important. Synthesizing data from seven cruises collectively spanning large temporal and spatial scales across the Atlantic Ocean, including two previously unreported studies crossing the largely undersampled South Atlantic gyre, we assessed the relationship between proposed environmental drivers and both community N2 fixation rates and the distribution of Trichodesmium. Simple linear regression analysis would suggest no relationship between any of the sampled environmental variables and N2 fixation rates. However, considering the concentrations of iron and phosphorus together within a simplified resource-ratio framework, illustrated using an idealized numerical model, indicates the combined effects these nutrients have on Trichodesmium and broader diazotroph biogeography, alongside the reciprocal maintenance of different biogeographic provinces of the (sub)tropical Atlantic in states of Fe or P oligotrophy by diazotrophy. The qualitative principles of the resource-ratio framework are argued to be consistent with both the previously described North-South Atlantic contrast in Trichodesmium abundance and the presence and consequence of a substantial non-Trichodesmium diazotrophic community in the western South Atlantic subtropical gyre. A comprehensive, observation-based explanation of the interactions between Trichodesmium and the wider diazotrophic community with iron and phosphorus in the Atlantic Ocean is thus revealed.

Description: The causes of natural variation in alkalinity in the North Pacific surface ocean need to be investigated to understand the carbon cycle and to improve predictive algorithms. We used GLODAPv2 to test hypotheses on the causes of three longitudinal phenomena in Alk*, a tracer of calcium carbonate cycling. These phenomena are (a) an increase from east to west between 45°N and 55°N, (b) an increase from west to east between 25°N and 40°N, and (c) a minor increase from west to east in the equatorial upwelling region. Between 45°N and 55°N, Alk* is higher on the western than on the eastern side, and this is associated with denser isopycnals with higher Alk* lying at shallower depths. Between 25°N and 40°N, upwelling along the North American continental shelf causes higher Alk* in the east. Along the equator, a strong east-west trend was not observed, even though the upwelling on the eastern side of the basin is more intense, because the water brought to the surface is not high in Alk*. We created two algorithms to predict alkalinity, one for the entire Pacific Ocean north of 30°S and one for the eastern margin. The Pacific Ocean algorithm is more accurate than the commonly used algorithm published by Lee et al. (2006), of similar accuracy to the best previously published algorithm by Sasse et al. (2013), and is less biased with longitude than other algorithms in the subpolar North Pacific. Our eastern margin algorithm is more accurate than previously published algorithms.

Description: The ocean contributes to regulating atmospheric CO2 levels, partly via variability in the fraction of primary production (PP) which is exported out of the surface layer (i.e., the e ratio). Southern Ocean studies have found that contrary to global-scale analyses, an inverse relationship exists between e ratio and PP. This relationship remains unexplained, with potential hypotheses being (i) large export of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in high PP areas, (ii) strong surface microbial recycling in high PP regions, and/or (iii) grazing-mediated export that varies inversely with PP. We find that the export of DOC has a limited influence in setting the negative e ratio/PP relationship. However, we observed that at sites with low PP and high e ratios, zooplankton-mediated export is large and surface microbial abundance low suggesting that both are important drivers of the magnitude of the e ratio in the Southern Ocean.