In view of the interest in oxygen distribution in the ocean, it 3eems advisable to bring to light some observations which were made in the l 930\u27s but which were never published…

Rakestraw, Norris W.

English

Yale University

      P.O. BOX 208118 | NEW HAVEN CT 06520-8118 USA | PEABODY.YALE. EDU   JOURNAL OF MARINE RESEARCH The Journal of Marine Research, one of the oldest journals in American marine science, published important peer-reviewed original research on a broad array of topics in physical, biological, and chemical oceanography vital to the academic oceanographic community in the long and rich tradition of the Sears Foundation for Marine Research at Yale University.  An archive of all issues from 1937 to 2021 (Volume 1–79) are available through EliScholar,  a digital platform for scholarly publishing provided by Yale University Library at  https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/.  Requests for permission to clear rights for use of this content should be directed to the authors, their estates, or other representatives. The Journal of Marine Research has no contact information beyond the affiliations listed in the published articles. We ask that you provide attribution to the Journal of Marine Research.  Yale University provides access to these materials for educational and research purposes only. Copyright or other proprietary rights to content contained in this document may be held by individuals or entities other than, or in addition to, Yale University. You are solely responsible for determining the ownership of the copyright, and for obtaining permission for your intended use. Yale University makes no warranty that your distribution, reproduction, or other use of these materials will not infringe the rights of third parties.  This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/   PARTICULATE MATTER IN THE OXYGEN-MINIMUM LAYER 1 BY NORRIS W. RAKESTRAW ScrvppB ln11titution of Oceanography La Jolla, Californw In view of the interest in oxygen distribution in the ocean, it 3eems advisable to bring to light some observations which were made in the l 930's but which were never published. Some of these µg/L 200 en a: "' 4 00 .... .... :!: ;;; :,:: .... . ... 600 UJ 0 60 0 1000 0 ® 50 KEY -- DEC. - ----- APRIL -- - ········- JUNE -- J ULY ---- - - AUG.-SEPT . Figure 1. Particulate nitrogen in micrograms p er lit er at Sts. A, B and C, during 1937-38. Arrows indicate levels of oxygen minimum. data were collected at the same time as those previously reported by Rakestraw and Carritt (1948). Water samples were collected five times during 1937--38 from three key stations: St. A, on the Continental Shelf about 30 mi SE of Montauk Point (Lat. 49°40' N; Long. 71°45' W) ; St. B, in the slope water northwest of the current of the Gulf Stream (Lat . 39°00' N; Long. 70°40' W); St. C, in the Sargasso Sea southeast of 1 Contribution from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, New Series. (429) 430 Journal of Marine Research [17 the Gulf Stream (Lat. 35°30' N ; Long. 67°30' W). Samples were taken during 1939 also at Sts. B and C. Determinations of "particulate-nitrogen" were made by a method previously described (von Brand, 1935). While these analytical results are in terms of micrograms of nitrogen in particulate matter contained in one liter of water, they afford at least a relative com-parison of the content of total organic particulate matter in the water. Results are shown in Figs. 1 and 2. It is scarcely necessary to indulge here in a general discussion of the origin of the oxygen-poor layer, since past and current views on this question have been adequately summarized by Richards (1957). Many factors undoubtedly contribute to this phenomenon, including: vertical distribution and origin of oxidizable organic matter, relative rates of sinking and of oxidation, velocities of horizontal and vertical advection, coefficients of eddy diffusion, .. ... 0 400 800 l000 1200 L ~, :1 " . I I \ \ IL -3566 ----- 3578 -- 3593 i \ \ I ( 10 © > Figure 2. Particulate nitrogen in micrograms p er liter at Ste. B and C, during 1939 Arrows indicate levels of oxygen minimum. Numbers correspond to ATLANTIS stations 1958] Rakestraw: Particulate Matter 431 variation of rate of oxidation with temperature, pressure and oxy-gen concentration, etc. In fact, the very nature of the determinative factors will doubtless vary from place to place. Several of the theoretical pictures which have been proposed (Seiwell, 1938; Wattenberg, 1939) postulate an accumulation of organic particulate matter at the level of greatest stability, near the bottom of the thermocline, and it has been supposed that this is important in determining the depth of the oxygen-minimum zone. However, inspection of Figs. 1 and 2 shows no such relation. Ob-viously the vertical distribution of particulate matter is irregular but, although it seems to be more abundant near the surface, there is certainly no indication of any accumulation in the zone of low oxygen. Jerlov (1953) has also determined the vertical distribution of particulate matter (organic plus inorganic) by an entirely different method, and while his results occasionally show a higher concen-tration in the low-oxygen zone, there are as many cases in which the reverse is true. Apparently we must abandon any conception that particulate matter accumulates in the oxygen-minimum zone. JERLOV, N . G. REFERENCES 1953. Particle distribution in the ocean. R ep . Swedish Deep-Sea Exped. III , Phys.-Chem. No. 3 : 73-97. RAKESTRAW, N . w. AND D . E . CARRITT 1948. Some seasonal chemical changes in the open ocean. J. Mar. R es., 1: 362-369. R ICHARDS, F. A. 1957. Oxygen in the oceans, in, Treatise on marine ecology and paleo-ecology. (Edit., J . W . Hedgpeth). Geol. Soc. Amer ., New York. Vol. 1, Chap. 9. SEIWELL, H . R. AND G. E. 1938. The sinking of decomposing plankton in sea water and its relationship to oxygen consumption and phosphorus liberation. Proc. Amer. phil. Soc., 78: 465-481. VON BRAND, THEODOR 1935. Methods for the determination of nitrogen and carbon in small amounts of plankton. Biol. Bull. Woods Hole, 69: 221. WATTENBERG, HERMANN 1939. Die Entstehung des Sauerstoffarmen Zwischenschicht im Ozean. Ann. Hydrogr., Berl., 5: 247-266. 

Particulate matter in the oxygen-minimum layer

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Particulate matter in the oxygen-minimum layer

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