Diapycnal mixing across the photic zone of the NE Atlantic

Variable physical conditions such as vertical turbulent exchange, internal wave, and mesoscale eddy action affect the availability of light and nutrients for phytoplankton (unicellular algae) growth. It is hypothesized that changes in ocean temperature may affect ocean vertical density stratification, which may hamper vertical exchange. In order to quantify variations in physical conditions in the northeast Atlantic Ocean, we sampled a latitudinal transect along 17 ± 5∘ W between 30 and 63∘ N in summer. A shipborne conductivity–temperature–depth (CTD) instrumented package was used with a custom-made modification of the pump inlet to minimize detrimental effects of ship motions on its data. Thorpe-scale analysis was used to establish turbulence values for the upper 500 m from three to six profiles obtained in a short CTD yo-yo, 3 to 5 h after local sunrise. From south to north, average temperature decreased together with stratification while turbulence values weakly increased or remained constant. Vertical turbulent nutrient fluxes did not vary significantly with stratification and latitude. This apparent lack of correspondence between turbulent mixing and temperature is likely due to internal waves breaking (increased stratification can support more internal waves), acting as a potential feedback mechanism. As this feedback mechanism mediates potential physical environment changes in temperature, global surface ocean warming may not affect the vertical nutrient fluxes to a large degree. We urge modellers to test this deduction as it could imply that the future summer phytoplankton productivity in stratified oligotrophic waters would experience little alterations in nutrient input from deeper waters

Southern Ocean control of silicon stable isotope distribution in the deep Atlantic Ocean

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2012. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Global Geochemical Cycles 26 (2012): GB2035, doi:10.1029/2011GB004141.The fractionation of silicon (Si) stable isotopes by biological activity in the surface ocean makes the stable isotope composition of silicon (δ30Si) dissolved in seawater a sensitive tracer of the oceanic biogeochemical Si cycle. We present a high-precision dataset that characterizes the δ30Si distribution in the deep Atlantic Ocean from Denmark Strait to Drake Passage, documenting strong meridional and smaller, but resolvable, vertical δ30Si gradients. We show that these gradients are related to the two sources of deep and bottom waters in the Atlantic Ocean: waters of North Atlantic and Nordic origin carry a high δ30Si signature of ≥+1.7‰ into the deep Atlantic, while Antarctic Bottom Water transports Si with a low δ30Si value of around +1.2‰. The deep Atlantic δ30Si distribution is thus governed by the quasi-conservative mixing of Si from these two isotopically distinct sources. This disparity in Si isotope composition between the North Atlantic and Southern Ocean is in marked contrast to the homogeneity of the stable nitrogen isotope composition of deep ocean nitrate (δ15N-NO3). We infer that the meridional δ30Si gradient derives from the transport of the high δ30Si signature of Southern Ocean intermediate/mode waters into the North Atlantic by the upper return path of the meridional overturning circulation (MOC). The basin-scale deep Atlantic δ30Si gradient thus owes its existence to the interaction of the physical circulation with biological nutrient uptake at high southern latitudes, which fractionates Si isotopes between the abyssal and intermediate/mode waters formed in the Southern Ocean.This work was supported by Swiss National Science Foundation grants 200021-116473 and 200020-130361.2012-12-1

Internal Wave Turbulence Near a Texel Beach

A summer bather entering a calm sea from the beach may sense alternating warm and cold water. This can be felt when moving forward into the sea (‘vertically homogeneous’ and ‘horizontally different’), but also when standing still between one’s feet and body (‘vertically different’). On a calm summer-day, an array of high-precision sensors has measured fast temperature-changes up to 1°C near a Texel-island (NL) beach. The measurements show that sensed variations are in fact internal waves, fronts and turbulence, supported in part by vertical stable stratification in density (temperature). Such motions are common in the deep ocean, but generally not in shallow seas where turbulent mixing is expected strong enough to homogenize. The internal beach-waves have amplitudes ten-times larger than those of the small surface wind waves. Quantifying their turbulent mixing gives diffusivity estimates of 10−4–10−3 m2 s−1, which are larger than found in open-ocean but smaller than wave breaking above deep sloping topography

The GEOTRACES Intermediate Data Product 2014

The GEOTRACES Intermediate Data Product 2014 (IDP2014) is the first publicly available data product of the international GEOTRACES programme, and contains data measured and quality controlled before the end of 2013. It consists of two parts: (1) a compilation of digital data for more than 200 trace elements and isotopes (TEIs) as well as classical hydrographic parameters, and (2) the eGEOTRACES Electronic Atlas providing a strongly inter-linked on-line atlas including more than 300 section plots and 90 animated 3D scenes. The IDP2014 covers the Atlantic, Arctic, and Indian oceans, exhibiting highest data density in the Atlantic. The TEI data in the IDP2014 are quality controlled by careful assessment of intercalibration results and multi-laboratory data comparisons at cross-over stations. The digital data are provided in several formats, including ASCII spreadsheet, Excel spreadsheet, netCDF, and Ocean Data View collection. In addition to the actual data values the IDP2014 also contains data quality flags and 1-? data error values where available. Quality flags and error values are useful for data filtering. Metadata about data originators, analytical methods and original publications related to the data are linked to the data in an easily accessible way. The eGEOTRACES Electronic Atlas is the visual representation of the IDP2014 data providing section plots and a new kind of animated 3D scenes. The basin-wide 3D scenes allow for viewing of data from many cruises at the same time, thereby providing quick overviews of large-scale tracer distributions. In addition, the 3D scenes provide geographical and bathymetric context that is crucial for the interpretation and assessment of observed tracer plumes, as well as for making inferences about controlling processes

The Effect of Metal Concentration on the Parameters Derived from Complexometric Titrations of Trace Elements in Seawater—A Model Study

In this study we examine the impact of dissolved metal concentrations on the parametersthat are commonly determined from complexometric titrations in seawater. We use thenon-ideal competitive adsorption (NICA) model within the framework of the chemicalspeciation program visual MINTEQ with iron as a model metal. We demonstrate thatdissolved iron concentrations effect the determined parameters for a heterogeneousbinding site distribution with a fixed concentration of dissolved organic carbon. Thecommonly used terms “ligand concentration” and “binding constant” are thereforedependent on metal concentration, so we adopt the terminology suggested by Town andFilella (2000) and use the terms ligand quotient and stability quotient here. The systematicincrease in the ligand quotient with dissolved iron concentration likely contributes towardthe trend of increasing ligand quotient with dissolved iron concentration observed infield studies, and makes it hard to assign an objective meaning to the parameter. Wesuggest that calculation of the side reaction coefficient, a parameter that describesthe probability that any added metal will be complexed, could be less prone to biasand misinterpretation than calculation of conditional stability and ligand quotients. Weexplore the impact of experimental design on side reaction coefficients by applyingdifferent detection windows, and multiwindow and reverse titration approaches. Weidentify the method that results in the best estimates of side reaction coefficients over arange of iron concentrations between 0.1 and 1.5 nmol L−1. We find that single windowtitrations can only reliably estimate side reaction coefficients over a limited range of ironconcentrations. Multiwindow titrations provided estimates of side reaction coefficientswithin the 99% confidence interval of the values calculated directly from the NICAmodel at all iron concentrations examined here. We recommend that future reportsof speciation measurements consider the potential influence of metal concentrationson the determined parameters and future studies focus on developing and applyingexperimental designs that improve the robustness and rigor of chemical speciationanalysis in the marine environment

The Effect of Metal Concentration on the Parameters Derived from Complexometric Titrations of Trace Elements in Seawater—A Model Study

In this study we examine the impact of dissolved metal concentrations on the parameters that are commonly determined from complexometric titrations in seawater. We use the non-ideal competitive adsorption (NICA) model within the framework of the chemical speciation program visual MINTEQ with iron as a model metal. We demonstrate that dissolved iron concentrations effect the determined parameters for a heterogeneous binding site distribution with a fixed concentration of dissolved organic carbon. The commonly used terms “ligand concentration” and “binding constant” are therefore dependent on metal concentration, so we adopt the terminology suggested by Town and Filella (2000) and use the terms ligand quotient and stability quotient here. The systematic increase in the ligand quotient with dissolved iron concentration likely contributes toward the trend of increasing ligand quotient with dissolved iron concentration observed in field studies, and makes it hard to assign an objective meaning to the parameter. We suggest that calculation of the side reaction coefficient, a parameter that describes the probability that any added metal will be complexed, could be less prone to bias and misinterpretation than calculation of conditional stability and ligand quotients. We explore the impact of experimental design on side reaction coefficients by applying different detection windows, and multiwindow and reverse titration approaches. We identify the method that results in the best estimates of side reaction coefficients over a range of iron concentrations between 0.1 and 1.5 nmol L−1. We find that single window titrations can only reliably estimate side reaction coefficients over a limited range of iron concentrations. Multiwindow titrations provided estimates of side reaction coefficients within the 99% confidence interval of the values calculated directly from the NICA model at all iron concentrations examined here. We recommend that future reports of speciation measurements consider the potential influence of metal concentrations on the determined parameters and future studies focus on developing and applying experimental designs that improve the robustness and rigor of chemical speciation analysis in the marine environment

An Intercomparison of Dissolved Iron Speciation at the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study (BATS) Site: Results from GEOTRACES Crossover Station A

The organic complexation of dissolved iron (Fe) was determined in depth profile samples collected from GEOTRACES Crossover Station A, the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study (BATS) site, as part of the Dutch and U.S. GEOTRACES North Atlantic programs in June 2010 and November 2011, respectively. The two groups employed distinct competitive ligand exchange-adsorptive cathodic stripping voltammetry (CLE-AdCSV) methods, and resulting ligand concentrations and conditional stability constants from each profile were compared. Excellent agreement was found between the total ligand concentrations determined in June 2010 and the strongest, L1-type, ligand concentrations determined in November 2011. Yet a primary distinction between the datasets was the number of ligand classes observed: A single ligand class was characterized in the June 2010 profile while two ligand classes were observed in the November 2011 profile. To assess the role of differing interpretation approaches in determining final results, analysts exchanged titration data, and accompanying parameters from the profiles for reinterpretation. The reinterpretation exercises highlighted the considerable influence of the sensitivity (S) parameter applied on interpretation results, consistent with recent intercalibration work on interpretation of copper speciation titrations. The potential role of titration data structure, humic-type substances, differing dissolved Fe concentrations, and seasonality are also discussed as possible drivers of the one vs. two ligand class determinations between the two profiles, leading to recommendations for future studies of Fe-binding ligand cycling in the oceans

Dissolved iron measured on board with Flow injection analysis and iron-binding dissolved organic ligands from Ultra Clean CTD collected depth profiles during GEOTRACES PS94 Arctic cruise on Polarstern

Data from Polarstern cruise PS94 in the Arctic in 2015 with chief scientist Ursula Schauer. In order to explain geochemical cycles of Fe in the ocean, M. Rijkenberg, L. Gerringa and H. Slagter a.o. sampled filtered seawater using an ultra clean titanium CTD. In these samples on board measurements were executed: dissolved Fe by flow injection analysis and the characteristics of the dissolved organic Fe-binding organic ligands (totalL); characteristics being the concentration of these ligands and the conditional binding constant of the Fe-complex (K' expressed as its logarithm: logK). Moreover in order to relate the dissolved organic Fe-binding organic ligands to humic substances, fluorescence of dissolved organic matter was measured as well as humic substances using voltammetry