Factors regulating the Great Calcite Belt in the Southern Ocean and its biogeochemical significance
| Type | Article | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | 2016-08 | ||||||||
| Language | English | ||||||||
| Author(s) | Balch William M.1, Bates Nicholas R.2, 3, Lam Phoebe J.4, 5, Twining Benjamin S.1, Rosengard Sarah Z.4, 6, Bowler Bruce C.1, Drapeau Dave T.1, Garley Rebecca2, Lubelczyk Laura C.1, Mitchell Catherine1, Rauschenberg Sara1 | ||||||||
| Affiliation(s) | 1 : Bigelow Lab Ocean Sci, East Boothbay, ME USA. 2 : Bermuda Inst Ocean Sci BIOS Inc, St George, Bermuda. 3 : Univ Southampton, Dept Ocean & Earth Sci, Southampton, Hants, England. 4 : Woods Hole Oceanog Inst, Dept Marine Chem & Geochem, Woods Hole, MA 02543 USA. 5 : Univ Calif Santa Cruz, Dept Ocean Sci, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 USA. 6 : MIT, 77 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA. |
||||||||
| Source | Global Biogeochemical Cycles (0886-6236) (Amer Geophysical Union), 2016-08 , Vol. 30 , N. 8 , P. 1124-1144 | ||||||||
| DOI | 10.1002/2016GB005414 | ||||||||
| WOS© Times Cited | 78 | ||||||||
| Keyword(s) | coccolithophores, trace metals, carbonate chemistry, Southern Ocean, Subantarctic Front, Subtropical Front | ||||||||
| Abstract | The Great Calcite Belt (GCB) is a region of elevated surface reflectance in the Southern Ocean (SO) covering similar to 16% of the global ocean and is thought to result from elevated, seasonal concentrations of coccolithophores. Here we describe field observations and experiments from two cruises that crossed the GCB in the Atlantic and Indian sectors of the SO. We confirm the presence of coccolithophores, their coccoliths, and associated optical scattering, located primarily in the region of the subtropical, Agulhas, and Subantarctic frontal regions. Coccolithophore-rich regions were typically associated with high-velocity frontal regions with higher seawater partial pressures of CO2 (pCO(2)) than the atmosphere, sufficient to reverse the direction of gas exchange to a CO2 source. There was no calcium carbonate (CaCO3) enhancement of particulate organic carbon (POC) export, but there were increased POC transfer efficiencies in high-flux particulate inorganic carbon regions. Contemporaneous observations are synthesized with results of trace-metal incubation experiments, Th-234-based flux estimates, and remotely sensed observations to generate amandala that summarizes our understanding about the factors that regulate the location of the GCB. | ||||||||
| Full Text |
|