Comment on: "Technical note: Consistent calculation of aquatic gross production from oxygen triple isotope measurements" by Kaiser (2011)

© The Author(s), 2011. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. The definitive version was published in Biogeosciences 8 (2011): 2993-2997, doi:10.5194/bg-8-2993-2011.Kaiser (2011) has introduced an improved method for calculating gross productivity from the triple isotopic composition of dissolved oxygen in aquatic systems. His equation avoids approximations of previous methodologies, and also accounts for additional physical processes such as kinetic fractionation during invasion and evasion at the air-sea interface. However, when comparing his new approach to previous methods, Kaiser inconsistently defines the biological end-member with the result of overestimating the degree to which the various approaches of previous studies diverge. In particular, for his base case, Kaiser assigns a 17O excess to the product of photosynthesis (17δP) that is too low, resulting in his result being ~30 % too high when compared to previous equations. When this is corrected, I find that Kaiser's equations are consistent with all previous study methodologies within about ±20 % for realistic conditions of metabolic balance (f) and gross productivity (g). A methodological bias of ±20 % is of similar magnitude to current uncertainty in the wind-speed dependence of the air-sea gas transfer velocity, k, which directly impacts calculated gross productivity rates as well. While previous results could and should be revisited and corrected using the proposed improved equations, the magnitude of such corrections may be much less than implied by Kaiser.This work was funded by the NOAA Global Carbon Cycle Program (NA 100AR4310093)

The North Atlantic biological pump : insights from the Ocean Observatories Initiative Irminger Sea Array

Author Posting. © The Oceanography Society, 2018. This article is posted here by permission of The Oceanography Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Oceanography 31, no. 1 (2018): 42–49, doi:10.5670/oceanog.2018.108.The biological pump plays a key role in the global carbon cycle by transporting photosynthetically fixed organic carbon into the deep ocean, where it can be sequestered from the atmosphere over annual or longer time scales if exported below the winter ventilation depth. In the subpolar North Atlantic, carbon sequestration via the biological pump is influenced by two competing forces: a spring diatom bloom that features large, fast-sinking biogenic particles, and deep winter mixing that requires particles to sink much further than in other ocean regions to escape winter ventilation. We synthesize biogeochemical sensor data from the first two years of operations at the Ocean Observatories Initiative Irminger Sea Array of moorings and gliders (September 2014–July 2016), providing the first simultaneous year-round observations of biological carbon cycling processes in both the surface ocean and the seasonal thermocline in this critical but previously undersampled region. These data show significant mixed layer net autotrophy during the spring bloom and significant respiration in the seasonal thermocline during the stratified season (~5.9 mol C m–2 remineralized between 200 m and 1,000 m). This respired carbon is subsequently ventilated during winter convective mixing (>1,000 m), a significant reduction in potential carbon sequestration. This highlights the importance of year-round observations to accurately constrain the biological pump in the subpolar North Atlantic, as well as other high-latitude regions that experience deep winter mixing.Hilary Palevsky acknowledges support from the Postdoctoral Scholar Program at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, with funding provided by the Weston Howland Jr. Postdoctoral Scholarship

Air calibration of an oxygen optode on an underwater glider

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2017. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here under a nonexclusive, irrevocable, paid-up, worldwide license granted to WHOI. It is made available for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Limnology and Oceanography: Methods 15 (2017): 495-502, doi:10.1002/lom3.10177.An Aanderaa Data Instruments 4831 Oxygen optode was configured on an underwater glider such that the optode extended into the atmosphere during each glider surface interval enabling in situ calibration of the sensor by directly measuring the known partial pressure of the atmosphere. The approach, which has previously been implemented on profiling floats but not on gliders, was tested during a 15-day deployment at the New England shelf break in June 2016, a productive period during which surface O2 saturation averaged 110%. Results were validated by shipboard Winkler O2 calibration casts, which were used to determine a sensor gain factor of 1.055 ± 0.004. Consistent with profiling float observations, air measurements contain contamination from splashing water and/or residual seawater on the sensor face. Glider surface measurements were determined to be a linear combination of 36% of surface water and 64% atmospheric air. When correcting air measurements for this effect, a sensor gain correction of 1.055 ± 0.005 was calculated based on comparing glider air measurements to the expected atmospheric pO2 calculated from atmospheric pressure and humidity data from a nearby NOAA buoy. Thus, the two approaches were in agreement and were both demonstrated to be accurate to within ±0.5%. We expect uncertainty in the air-calibration could be further reduced by increasing the vertical positioning of the optode, lengthening deployment time, or operating in waters with surface O2 saturation closer to equilibrium

Sign problems, noise, and chiral symmetry breaking in a QCD-like theory

The Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model reduced to 2+1 dimensions has two different path integral formulations: at finite chemical potential one formulation has a severe sign problem similar to that found in QCD, while the other does not. At large N, where N is the number of flavors, one can compute the probability distributions of fermion correlators analytically in both formulations. In the former case one finds a broad distribution with small mean; in the latter one finds a heavy tailed positive distribution amenable to the cumulant expansion techniques developed in earlier work. We speculate on the implications of this model for QCD.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures; Published version with minor changes from the origina

Discrepant estimates of primary and export production from satellite algorithms, a biogeochemical model, and geochemical tracer measurements in the North Pacific Ocean

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2016. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geophysical Research Letters 43 (2016): 8645–8653, doi:10.1002/2016GL070226.Estimates of primary and export production (PP and EP) based on satellite remote sensing algorithms and global biogeochemical models are widely used to provide year-round global coverage not available from direct observations. However, observational data to validate these approaches are limited. We find that no single satellite algorithm or model can reproduce seasonal and annual geochemically determined PP, export efficiency (EP/PP), and EP rates throughout the North Pacific basin, based on comparisons throughout the full annual cycle at time series stations in the subarctic and subtropical gyres and basin-wide regions sampled by container ship transects. The high-latitude regions show large PP discrepancies in winter and spring and strong effects of deep winter mixed layers on annual EP that cannot be accounted for in current satellite-based approaches. These results underscore the need to evaluate satellite- and model-based estimates using multiple productivity parameters measured over broad ocean regions throughout the annual cycle.NDSEG Fellowship from the Office of Naval Research; NSF Graduate Research Fellowship; ARCS Foundation Fellowship2017-02-2

Quantifying subtropical North Pacific gyre mixed layer primary productivity from Seaglider observations of diel oxygen cycles

© The Author(s), 2015. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Geophysical Research Letters 42 (2015): 4032–4039, doi:10.1002/2015GL063065.Using autonomous underwater gliders, we quantified diurnal periodicity in dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll, and temperature in the subtropical North Pacific near the Hawaii Ocean Time-series (HOT) Station ALOHA during summer 2012. Oxygen optodes provided sufficient stability and precision to quantify diel cycles of average amplitude of 0.6 µmol kg−1. A theoretical diel curve was fit to daily observations to infer an average mixed layer gross primary productivity (GPP) of 1.8 mmol O2 m−3 d−1. Cumulative net community production (NCP) over 110 days was 500 mmol O2 m−2 for the mixed layer, which averaged 57 m in depth. Both GPP and NCP estimates indicated a significant period of below-average productivity at Station ALOHA in 2012, an observation confirmed by 14C productivity incubations and O2/Ar ratios. Given our success in an oligotrophic gyre where biological signals are small, our diel GPP approach holds promise for remote characterization of productivity across the spectrum of marine environments.The authors acknowledge support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) through an NSF Science and Technology Center, the Center for Microbial Oceanography Research and Education (C-MORE; NSF EF-0424599). D.N. also was supported by NSF (OCE-1129644) and an Independent Study Award from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). D.M.K. was also supported by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. WHOI Summer Student Fellow Cole Stites-Clayton, Stanford University, contributed to early stages of Seaglider data analysis and was supported by an NSF REU grant to WHOI (OCE-1156952)

Alkaline phosphatase activity in the phytoplankton communities of Monterey Bay and San Francisco Bay

Author Posting. © American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, 2006. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of American Society of Limnology and Oceanography for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Limnology and Oceanography 51 (2006): 874–883.Enzyme-labeled fluorescence (ELF) and bulk alkaline phosphatase (AP) activity enzyme assays were used to evaluate the phosphorus (P) status of phytoplankton communities in San Francisco and Monterey bays. Both regions exhibit spatial and temporal variability in bulk AP activity with maximum activities during the early spring and summer periods of high biological productivity. ELF analysis revealed pronounced differences in the makeup of organisms responsible for AP activity in these two environments. In Monterey Bay dinoflagellates are responsible for the bulk of the AP activity. Diatoms infrequently exhibited AP activity. Dinoflagellates that comprised only 14% of all cells counted in Monterey Bay accounted for 78% of AP-producing cells examined. The presence of AP activity in this group suggests that changes in P sources, concentrations, and bioavailability could disproportionably influence this group relative to diatoms in Monterey Bay. In San Francisco Bay, AP production, indicated by ELF, was associated primarily with bacteria attached to suspended particles, potentially used to hydrolyze organic compounds for carbon, rather than to satisfy P requirements. Our results highlight the importance of organic P as a bioavailable nutrient source in marine ecosystems and as a component of the marine P cycle

The triple oxygen isotope tracer of primary productivity in a dynamic ocean model

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Global Biogeochemical Cycle 28 (2014): 538–552, doi:10.1002/2013GB004704.The triple oxygen isotopic composition of dissolved oxygen (17Δdis) was added to the ocean ecosystem and biogeochemistry component of the Community Earth System Model, version 1.1.1. Model simulations were used to investigate the biological and physical dynamics of 17Δdis and assess its application as a tracer of gross photosynthetic production (gross oxygen production (GOP)) of O2 in the ocean mixed layer. The model reproduced large-scale patterns of 17Δdis found in observational data across diverse biogeographical provinces. Mixed layer model performance was best in the Pacific and had a negative bias in the North Atlantic and a positive bias in the Southern Ocean. Based on model results, the steady state equation commonly used to calculate GOP from tracer values overestimated the globally averaged model GOP by 29%. Vertical entrainment/mixing and the time rate of change of 17Δdis were the two largest sources of bias when applying the steady state method to calculate GOP. Entrainment/mixing resulted in the largest overestimation in midlatitudes and during summer and fall and almost never caused an underestimation of GOP. The tracer time rate of change bias resulted both in underestimation of GOP (e.g., during spring blooms at high latitudes) and overestimation (e.g., during the summer following a bloom). Seasonally, bias was highest in the fall (September-October-November in the Northern Hemisphere, March-April-May in the Southern), overestimating GOP by 62%, globally averaged. Overall, the steady state method was most accurate in equatorial and low-latitude regions where it estimated GOP to within ±10%. Field applicable correction terms are derived for entrainment and mixing that capture 86% of model vertical bias and require only mixed layer depth history and triple oxygen isotope measurements from two depths.We acknowledge support from Center for Microbial Oceanography Research and Education (CMORE) (NSF EF-0424599) and NOAA Climate Program Office (NA 100AR4310093).2014-11-2

Observations of shallow methane bubble emissions from Cascadia Margin

© The Author(s), 2021. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Michel, A. P. M., Preston, V. L., Fauria, K. E., & Nicholson, D. P. Observations of shallow methane bubble emissions from Cascadia Margin. Frontiers in Earth Science, 9, (2021): 613234, https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2021.613234.Open questions exist about whether methane emitted from active seafloor seeps reaches the surface ocean to be subsequently ventilated to the atmosphere. Water depth variability, coupled with the transient nature of methane bubble plumes, adds complexity to examining these questions. Little data exist which trace methane transport from release at a seep into the water column. Here, we demonstrate a coupled technological approach for examining methane transport, combining multibeam sonar, a field-portable laser-based spectrometer, and the ChemYak, a robotic surface kayak, at two shallow (<75 m depth) seep sites on the Cascadia Margin. We demonstrate the presence of elevated methane (above the methane equilibration concentration with the atmosphere) throughout the water column. We observe areas of elevated dissolved methane at the surface, suggesting that at these shallow seep sites, methane is reaching the air-sea interface and is being emitted to the atmosphere.Funding for VP was provided by an NDSEG Fellowship. Funding for KF was provided by a WHOI Postdoctoral Scholar Fellowship. Ship time on the R/V Falkor was provided by the Schmidt Ocean Institute (FK180824)

A phytoplankton model for the allocation of gross photosynthetic energy including the trade‐offs of diazotrophy

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2018. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences 123 (2018): 1796-1816, doi:10.1029/2017JG004263.Gross photosynthetic activity by phytoplankton is directed to linear and alternative electron pathways that generate ATP, reductant, and fix carbon. Ultimately less than half is directed to net growth. Here we present a phytoplankton cell allocation model that explicitly represents a number of cell metabolic processes and functional pools with the goal of evaluating ATP and reductant demands as a function of light, nitrate, iron, oxygen, and temperature for diazotrophic versus nondiazotrophic growth. We employ model analogues of Synechoccocus and Crocosphaera watsonii, to explore the trade‐offs of diazotrophy over a range of environmental conditions. Model analogues are identical in construction, except for an iron quota associated with nitrogenase, an additional respiratory demand to remove oxygen in order to protect nitrogenase and an additional ATP demand to split dinitrogen. We find that these changes explain observed differences in growth rate and iron limitation between diazotrophs and nondiazotrophs. Oxygen removal imparted a significantly larger metabolic cost to diazotrophs than ATP demand for fixing nitrogen. Results suggest that diazotrophs devote a much smaller fraction of gross photosynthetic energy to growth than nondiazotrophs. The phytoplankton cell allocation model model provides a predictive framework for how photosynthate allocation varies with environmental conditions in order to balance cellular demands for ATP and reductant across phytoplankton functional groups.DOC | NOAA | Climate Program Office (CPO) Grant Number: NA100AR4310093; National Science Foundation (NSF) Grant Number: EF‐0424599; Center for Microbial Oceanography Research and Education (CMORE) Grant Number: NSF EF‐0424599; NOAA Global Carbon Program Grant Number: NA100AR43100932018-11-0