Project: The Biological Carbon Pump in the Subtropical North Pacific Ocean: Mechanisms of Nutrient Supply

NSF Award Abstract:

OCE-9906922

The subtropical gyres occupy a large fraction of the world ocean and until recently, the common view was that these vast nutrient-depleted regions support only a small amount of primary productivity. However, this view is changing and it appears that production in these areas is important. Thus it is important to understand the mechanism by which nutrients are supplied to these areas. To this end, this project will seek to improve estimates of the mechanisms of nutrient transport to the euphotic zone, and also better constrain the magnitude of the carbon pump. The three main elements of this proposal are improvment in the continuous measurements of oxygen and N2 on the HOT mooring, ship-of-opportunity measurements of DOP (dissolved organic phosphorus) and DON (dissolved organic nitrogen), and measurements of neon to clarify the mechanism of bubble-induced gas exchange in the O2 budget. The goal is to determine the quantitative importance of intermittment diapycnal and surface transport of phosphorus, and to improve mass balance estimates of net biological oxygen production.