Particulate biogenic barium tracer of mesopelagic carbon remineralization in the Mediterranean Sea (PEACETIME project)

Type Article
Date 2021
Language English
Author(s) Jacquet Stéphanie Hm1, Tamburini Christian1, Garel Marc1, Dufour Aurélie1, Van Vambeke France1, Le Moigne Frédéric Ac1, Bhairy Nagib1, Guasco Sophie1
Affiliation(s) 1 : Aix Marseille Université, CNRS/INSU, Université de Toulon, IRD, Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography (MIO), UM 110, 13288 Marseille, France
Source Biogeosciences (1726-4189) (Copernicus GmbH), 2021 , Vol. 18 , N. 22 , P. 5891-5902
DOI 10.5194/bg-2020-271
Note Special issue | Atmospheric deposition in the low-nutrient-low-chlorophyll (LNLC) ocean: effects on marine life today and in the future (BG/ACP inter-journal SI) Editor(s): Christine Klaas, Cecile Guieu, Karine Desboeufs, Jan-Berend Stuut, Mark Moore, Paraskevi Pitta, Silvia Becagli, and Chiara Santinelli Special issue jointly organized between Biogeosciences and Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
Abstract

We report on the sub-basins variability of particulate organic carbon (POC) remineralization in the central and western Mediterranean Sea during a late spring period (PEACETIME cruise). POC remineralization rates (MR) were estimated using the excess non-lithogenic particulate barium (Baxs) inventories in mesopelagic waters (100–1000 m) and compared with prokaryotic heterotrophic production (PHP). MR range from 25 ± 2 to 306 ± 70 mg C m−2 d−1. Results reveal larger MR processes in the Algerian (ALG) basin compared to the Tyrrhenian (TYR) and Ionian (ION) basins. Baxs inventories and PHP also indicates that significant remineralization occurs over the whole mesopelagic layers in the ALG basin in contrast to the ION and TYR basins where remineralization is mainly located in the upper 500 m horizon. We propose that this may be due to particle injection pumps likely driven by strong winter convection in the Western basin of the Mediterranean Sea. This implies significant differences in the remineralization length scale of POC in the central Mediterranean Sea relative to the western region.

Full Text
File Pages Size Access
Preprint 28 3 MB Open access
Publisher's official version 12 2 MB Open access
Top of the page

How to cite 

Jacquet Stéphanie Hm, Tamburini Christian, Garel Marc, Dufour Aurélie, Van Vambeke France, Le Moigne Frédéric Ac, Bhairy Nagib, Guasco Sophie (2021). Particulate biogenic barium tracer of mesopelagic carbon remineralization in the Mediterranean Sea (PEACETIME project). Biogeosciences, 18(22), 5891-5902. Publisher's official version : https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2020-271 , Open Access version : https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00652/76399/