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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
general
Southern Ocean deep-water carbon export enhanced by natural iron fertilization
Nature, Volume 457, No. 7229, Year 2009
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Description
The addition of iron to high-nutrient, low-chlorophyll regions induces phytoplankton blooms that take up carbon. Carbon export from the surface layer and, in particular, the ability of the ocean and sediments to sequester carbon for many years remains, however, poorly quantified. Here we report data from the CROZEX experiment in the Southern Ocean, which was conducted to test the hypothesis that the observed north-south gradient in phytoplankton concentrations in the vicinity of the Crozet Islands is induced by natural iron fertilization that results in enhanced organic carbon flux to the deep ocean. We report annual particulate carbon fluxes out of the surface layer, at three kilometres below the ocean surface and to the ocean floor. We find that carbon fluxes from a highly productive, naturally iron-fertilized region of the sub-Antarctic Southern Ocean are two to three times larger than the carbon fluxes from an adjacent high-nutrient, low-chlorophyll area not fertilized by iron. Our findings support the hypothesis that increased iron supply to the glacial sub-Antarctic may have directly enhanced carbon export to the deep ocean. The CROZEX sequestration efficiency (the amount of carbon sequestered below the depth of winter mixing for a given iron supply) of 8,600 mol mol -1 was 18 times greater than that of a phytoplankton bloom induced artificially by adding iron, but 77 times smaller than that of another bloom initiated, like CROZEX, by a natural supply of iron. Large losses of purposefully added iron can explain the lower efficiency of the induced bloom6. The discrepancy between the blooms naturally supplied with iron may result in part from an underestimate of horizontal iron supply. ©2009 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.
Authors & Co-Authors
Pollard, Raymond T.
United Kingdom, Southampton
University of Southampton
Salter, I.
United Kingdom, Southampton
University of Southampton
France, Banyuls-sur-mer
Observatoire Océanologique de Banyuls-sur-mer
Sanders, Richard J.
United Kingdom, Southampton
University of Southampton
Lucas, Michael I.
South Africa, Cape Town
University of Cape Town
Moore, C. Mark
United Kingdom, Southampton
University of Southampton
Mills, Rachel A.
United Kingdom, Southampton
University of Southampton
Statham, Peter J.
United Kingdom, Southampton
University of Southampton
Allen, John Taylor
United Kingdom, Southampton
University of Southampton
Baker, Alex R.
United Kingdom, Norwich
University of East Anglia
Bakker, Dorothee C.E.
United Kingdom, Norwich
University of East Anglia
Charette, Matthew A.
United States, Woods Hole
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Fielding, Sophie
United Kingdom, Cambridge
British Antarctic Survey
Fones, Gary R.
United Kingdom, Portsmouth
University of Portsmouth
French, Megan
United Kingdom, Norwich
University of East Anglia
Hickman, Anna E.
United Kingdom, Liverpool
University of Liverpool
Holland, Ross J.
United Kingdom, Southampton
University of Southampton
Hughes, J. A.
United Kingdom, Southampton
University of Southampton
Jickells, Timothy D.
United Kingdom, Norwich
University of East Anglia
Lampitt, Richard S.
United Kingdom, Southampton
University of Southampton
Morris, Paul J.
United Kingdom, Southampton
University of Southampton
Nédélec, Florence H.
France, Plouzane
Ifremer Institut Francais de Recherche Pour L'exploitation de la Mer
Nielsdóttir, Maria
United Kingdom, Southampton
University of Southampton
Planquette, Hélène F.
United States, New Brunswick
Rutgers University–new Brunswick
Popova, Ekaterina E.
United Kingdom, Southampton
University of Southampton
Poulton, Alex J.
United Kingdom, Southampton
University of Southampton
Read, Jane F.
United Kingdom, Southampton
University of Southampton
Seeyave, Sophie
United Kingdom, Southampton
University of Southampton
Smith, Tania
United Kingdom, Southampton
University of Southampton
Stinchcombe, Mark C.
United Kingdom, Southampton
University of Southampton
Taylor, Sarah
United Kingdom, Southampton
University of Southampton
Thomalla, Sandy J.
South Africa, Cape Town
University of Cape Town
Venables, H. J.
United Kingdom, Cambridge
British Antarctic Survey
Williamson, Robert
South Africa, Cape Town
University of Cape Town
Zubkov, Mikhail
United Kingdom, Southampton
University of Southampton
Statistics
Citations: 354
Authors: 34
Affiliations: 10
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1038/nature07716
ISSN:
00280836
e-ISSN:
14764687
Research Areas
Environmental
Study Approach
Quantitative