Sources And Cycling of Carbonyl Sulfide in the Sargasso Sea

The cycling of the radiatively important gas carbonyl sulfide (OCS) was studied in surface waters of the Sargasso Sea. In August 1999, surface OCS concentrations averaged 8.6 pmol L-1, showed minor diel variations, and varied little with depth. An OCS precursor, total dissolved organic sulfur (DOS), was lowest at the surface (40 nmol L-1) and increased with depth. The photoproduction rate of OCS from in situ incubations averaged 9.6 pmol L-1 h-1, whereas dark production was 7.0 pmol L-1 h-1. Apparent quantum yields were 10-5-10-7 from 313-436 nm and varied with the water depth irradiated. In March 2000, there were strong diel variations in surface OCS (highest in late afternoon; overall average, 16.9 pmol L-1). Depth profiles in the afternoon showed surface water maxima and decreases with depth, whereas DOS had a surface maximum of 419 nmol L-1 and decreased with depth. Dark production was 4.0 pmol L-1 h-1. Modeling of the diel cycle suggested a photoproduction rate of 16.4 pmol L-1 h-1. Overall, the photochemical production of OCS strongly depended on DOS and chromophoric dissolved organic matter, whereas dark production was influenced by the presence of particles and perhaps microbial respiration, showing a direct biotic influence on OCS cycling

Biogeochemistry of Arsenic and Antimony in the North Pacific Ocean

The biogeochemical cycles of the metalloid elements arsenic and antimony were examined along a 15,000 km surface water transect and at 9 vertical profile stations in the western North Pacific Ocean as part of the 2002 IOC Contaminant Baseline Survey. Results show that the speciation of dissolved arsenic (As III, As V, and methylated As) was subtly controlled by the arsenate (AsV)/phosphate ratio. An additional fraction of presumed organic arsenic previously reported in coastal waters was also present (~15% of the total As) in oceanic surface waters. Dissolved inorganic antimony displayed mildly scavenged behavior that was confirmed by correlations with aluminum, but atmospheric inputs that may be anthropogenic in origin also affected its concentrations. Monomethyl antimony, the predominant organic form of the element, behaved almost conservatively throughout the water column, radically changing the known biogeochemical cycle of antimony

Microbial rhodopsins are major contributors to the solar energy captured in the sea

All known phototrophic metabolisms on Earth rely on one of three categories of energy-converting pigments: chlorophyll-a (rarely -d), bacteriochlorophyll-a (rarely -b), and retinal, which is the chromophore in rhodopsins. While the significance of chlorophylls in solar energy capture has been studied for decades, the contribution of retinal-based phototrophy to this process remains largely unexplored. We report the first vertical distributions of the three energy-converting pigments measured along a contrasting nutrient gradient through the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The highest rhodopsin concentrations were observed above the deep chlorophyll-a maxima, and their geographical distribution tended to be inversely related to that of chlorophyll-a. We further show that proton-pumping proteorhodopsins potentially absorb as much light energy as chlorophyll-a–based phototrophy and that this energy is sufficient to sustain bacterial basal metabolism. This suggests that proteorhodopsins are a major energy-transducing mechanism to harvest solar energy in the surface ocean

Antimony and Arsenic Biogeochemistry in the Western Atlantic Ocean

The subtropical to equatorial Atlantic Ocean provides a unique regime in which one can examine the biogeochemical cycles of antimony and arsenic. In particular, this region is strongly affected by inputs from the Amazon River and dust from North Africa at the surface, and horizontal transport at depth from high-latitude northern (e.g., North Atlantic Deep Water) and southern waters (e.g., Antarctic Bottom and Intermediate Waters). As a part of the 1996 Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission\u27s Contaminant Baseline Survey, data for dissolved As(III + V), As(III), mono- and dimethyl arsenic, Sb(III + V), Sb(III), and monomethyl antimony were obtained at six vertical profile stations and 44 sites along the 11,000 km transect from Montevideo, Uruguay, to Bridgetown, Barbados. The arsenic results were similar to those in other oceans, with moderate surface depletion, deep-water enrichment, a predominance of arsenate (\u3e 85% As(V)), and methylated arsenic species and As(III) in surface waters that are likely a result of phytoplankton conversions to mitigate arsenate stress (toxicity). Perhaps the most significant discovery in the arsenic results was the extremely low concentrations in the Amazon Plume (as low as 9.8 nmol/l) that appear to extend for considerable distances offshore in the equatorial region. The very low concentration of inorganic arsenic in the Amazon River (2.8 nmol/l; about half those in most rivers) is probably the result of intense iron oxyhydroxide scavenging. Dissolved antimony was also primarily in the pentavalent state (\u3e 95% antimonate), but Sb(III) and monomethyl antimony were only detected in surface waters and displayed no correlations with biotic tracers such as nutrients and chlorophyll a. Unlike As(III + V)\u27s nutrient-type vertical profiles, Sb(III + V) displayed surface maxima and decreased into the deep waters, exhibiting the behavior of a scavenged element with a strong atmospheric input. While surface water Sb had a slight correlation with dissolved Al, it is likely that atmospheric Sb is delivered with combustion byproducts and not from mineral aerosols. In the Amazon Plume, antimony concentrations dropped substantially, and an Amazon River sample had a concentration (0.25 nmol/l) that was Less than one-fourth those found in other major rivers. Using these river data, and estimates of atmospheric fluxes based on shipboard measurements and collections from Barbados, the atmospheric deposition of antimony to the equatorial Atlantic (2 degreesS-8 degreesN) is twice the Amazon flux, while the atmospheric deposition of arsenic is only 10% of the river\u27s flux. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved