Vertical particle flux in the northeast Atlantic Ocean (POMME experiment)
| Type | Article | ||||||||
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| Date | 2005-07 | ||||||||
| Language | English | ||||||||
| Author(s) | Guieu C1, Roy-Barman M2, Leblond N1, Jeandel C3, Souhaut M3, Le Cann Bernard4, Dufour A1, Bournot C5 | ||||||||
| Affiliation(s) | 1 : CNRS, Lab Oceanog Villefranche, F-06238 Villefranche Sur Mer, France. 2 : CNRS, Inst Pierre Simon Laplace, Lab Sci Climat & Environm, F-91198 Gif Sur Yvette, France. 3 : Univ Toulouse 3, Observ Midi Pyrenees, Inst Rech Dev,Ctr Natl Etud Spatiales, CNRS,Lab Etud Geophys & Oceanog Spatiales, F-31400 Toulouse, France. 4 : Univ Bretagne Occidentale, Inst Francais Rech Exploitat Mer, Lab Phys Oceans, CNRS,UMR 6523, Brest 3, France. 5 : Inst Natl Sci Univers, CNRS, Div Tech, F-29280 Plouzane, France. |
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| Source | Journal Of Geophysical Research Oceans (0148-0227) (Amer Geophysical Union), 2005-07 , Vol. 110 , N. C07S18 , P. 1-21 | ||||||||
| DOI | 10.1029/2004JC002672 | ||||||||
| WOS© Times Cited | 28 | ||||||||
| Keyword(s) | sediment traps, carbon export, biogenic and lithogenic tracers, mesoscale circulation, thorium isotopes | ||||||||
| Abstract | In the framework of the Programme Ocean Multidisciplinaire Meso Echelle (POMME) experiment, a 1.5 year record (February 2001-June 2002) of downward particle flux at 400 m and 1000 m was measured by sediment traps at four moorings located in the northeast Atlantic between 39 degrees-43 degrees N and 17 degrees-19 degrees W. Thorium-230 was used to estimate sediment trap efficiency, revealing values ranging from 18.5 to 55%. The lowest trapping efficiency was observed for the trap having experienced the highest currents. Significant interannual variability between 2001 and 2002 was clearly linked to the differences observed in the mixed layer depth. At some sites, particulate organic carbon (POC) export was higher (up to a factor of 1.6) during summer than during the spring event. This could be related to the occurrence of short wind events that deepened the thermocline along with the presence of anticyclonic eddies, yielding an input of new nutrients. The average percentage of POC exported compared to the primary production of organic carbon in the surface waters ranged between 1.3 and 5.0%, with higher export efficiency during the spring. Finally, although the area was shown to present a relatively high mesoscale activity that might impact the geochemistry, POC export was rather homogeneous over the POMME area: 4.9 +/- 1.6 gC m(-2) yr(-1) were exported below 1000 m between February 2001 and February 2002. Therefore a large fraction of the new production may be exported through convection and mode water circulation rather than by particle settling. | ||||||||
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