ALBERT

Description: © The Author(s), 2013. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Biogeosciences 10 (2013): 6783-6792, doi:10.5194/bg-10-6783-2013.

Description: Microbial nitrous oxide (N2O) production in the ocean is enhanced under low-oxygen (O2) conditions. This is especially important in the context of increasing hypoxia (i.e., oceanic zones with extremely reduced O2 concentrations). Here, we present a study on the interannual variation in summertime nitrous oxide (N2O) concentrations in the bottom waters of the northern Gulf of Mexico (nGOM), which is well-known as the site of the second largest seasonally occurring hypoxic zone worldwide. To this end we developed a simple model that computes bottom-water N2O concentrations with a tri-linear ΔN2O/O2 relationship based on water-column O2 concentrations, derived from summer (July) Texas–Louisiana shelf-wide hydrographic data between 1985 and 2007. ΔN2O (i.e., excess N2O) was computed including nitrification and denitrification as the major microbial production and consumption pathways of N2O. The mean modeled bottom-water N2O concentration for July in the nGOM was 14.5 ± 2.3 nmol L−1 (min: 11.0 ± 4.5 nmol L−1 in 2000 and max: 20.6 ± 11.3 nmol L−1 in 2002). The mean bottom-water N2O concentrations were significantly correlated with the areal extent of hypoxia in the nGOM. Our modeling analysis indicates that the nGOM is a persistent summer source of N2O, and nitrification is dominating N2O production in this region. Based on the ongoing increase in the areal extent of hypoxia in the nGOM, we conclude that N2O production (and its subsequent emissions) from this environmentally stressed region will probably continue to increase into the future.

Description: The preparation of the manuscript was supported by the Mid-career Research Program of the Korea National Research Foundation (No. 2012R1A2A1A01004631) and by Polar Academy Program of the Korea Polar Research Institute. Partial support was also provided by the project titled “Long-term change of structure and function in marine ecosystems of Korea” funded by the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs. Support for A. M. Macdonald was provided through NSF grant No. OCE-0926651.

Description: © The Author(s), 2018. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Biogeosciences 15 (2018): 5891-5907, doi:10.5194/bg-15-5891-2018.

Description: Large-scale climatic forcing is impacting oceanic biogeochemical cycles and is expected to influence the water-column distribution of trace gases, including methane and nitrous oxide. Our ability as a scientific community to evaluate changes in the water-column inventories of methane and nitrous oxide depends largely on our capacity to obtain robust and accurate concentration measurements that can be validated across different laboratory groups. This study represents the first formal international intercomparison of oceanic methane and nitrous oxide measurements whereby participating laboratories received batches of seawater samples from the subtropical Pacific Ocean and the Baltic Sea. Additionally, compressed gas standards from the same calibration scale were distributed to the majority of participating laboratories to improve the analytical accuracy of the gas measurements. The computations used by each laboratory to derive the dissolved gas concentrations were also evaluated for inconsistencies (e.g., pressure and temperature corrections, solubility constants). The results from the intercomparison and intercalibration provided invaluable insights into methane and nitrous oxide measurements. It was observed that analyses of seawater samples with the lowest concentrations of methane and nitrous oxide had the lowest precisions. In comparison, while the analytical precision for samples with the highest concentrations of trace gases was better, the variability between the different laboratories was higher: 36% for methane and 27% for nitrous oxide. In addition, the comparison of different batches of seawater samples with methane and nitrous oxide concentrations that ranged over an order of magnitude revealed the ramifications of different calibration procedures for each trace gas. Finally, this study builds upon the intercomparison results to develop recommendations for improving oceanic methane and nitrous oxide measurements, with the aim of precluding future analytical discrepancies between laboratories.

Description: U.S. National Science Foundation (OCE-1546580); Funding for the gas standards was provided by the Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education (C-MORE; EF0424599 to David M. Karl), SCOR, the EU FP7 funded Integrated non-CO2 Greenhouse gas Observation System (InGOS) (grant agreement no. 284274), and NOAA’s Climate Program Office, Climate Observations Division. Additional support was provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation no. 3794 (David M. Karl), the Simons Collaboration on Ocean Processes and Ecology (SCOPE; no. 329108 to David M. Karl), and the Global Research Laboratory Program (no. 2013K1A1A2A02078278 to David M. Karl) through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF); Alyson E. Santoro would like to acknowledge NSF OCE-1437310. Mercedes de la Paz would like to acknowledge the support of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (CTM2015-74510-JIN). Laura Farías received financial support from FONDAP 1511009 and FONDECYT no. 1161138

Description: © The Author(s), 2016. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Biogeosciences 13 (2016): 2889-2899, doi:10.5194/bg-13-2889-2016.

Description: Mesoscale eddies play a major role in controlling ocean biogeochemistry. By impacting nutrient availability and water column ventilation, they are of critical importance for oceanic primary production. In the eastern tropical South Pacific Ocean off Peru, where a large and persistent oxygen-deficient zone is present, mesoscale processes have been reported to occur frequently. However, investigations into their biological activity are mostly based on model simulations, and direct measurements of carbon and dinitrogen (N2) fixation are scarce. We examined an open-ocean cyclonic eddy and two anticyclonic mode water eddies: a coastal one and an open-ocean one in the waters off Peru along a section at 16° S in austral summer 2012. Molecular data and bioassay incubations point towards a difference between the active diazotrophic communities present in the cyclonic eddy and the anticyclonic mode water eddies. In the cyclonic eddy, highest rates of N2 fixation were measured in surface waters but no N2 fixation signal was detected at intermediate water depths. In contrast, both anticyclonic mode water eddies showed pronounced maxima in N2 fixation below the euphotic zone as evidenced by rate measurements and geochemical data. N2 fixation and carbon (C) fixation were higher in the young coastal mode water eddy compared to the older offshore mode water eddy. A co-occurrence between N2 fixation and biogenic N2, an indicator for N loss, indicated a link between N loss and N2 fixation in the mode water eddies, which was not observed for the cyclonic eddy. The comparison of two consecutive surveys of the coastal mode water eddy in November 2012 and December 2012 also revealed a reduction in N2 and C fixation at intermediate depths along with a reduction in chlorophyll by half, mirroring an aging effect in this eddy. Our data indicate an important role for anticyclonic mode water eddies in stimulating N2 fixation and thus supplying N offshore.

Description: This study was supported by NSF grants OCE 0851092 and OCE 115474 to M. A. Altabet and an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship to A. Bourbonnais.