TY - JOUR
T1 - On the proportion of ballast versus non-ballast associated carbon export in the surface ocean
AU - Le Moigne, Frederic A. C.
AU - Sanders, Richard J.
AU - Villa-Alfageme, Maria
AU - Martin, Adrian P.
AU - Pabortsava, Katsiaryna
AU - Planquette, Helene
AU - Morris, Paul J.
AU - Thomalla, Sandy J.
PY - 2012/8/11
Y1 - 2012/8/11
N2 - The role of biominerals in driving carbon export from the surface ocean is unclear. We compiled surface particulate organic carbon (POC), and mineral ballast export fluxes from 55 different locations in the Atlantic and Southern Oceans. Substantial surface POC export accompanied by negligible mineral export was recorded implying that association with mineral phases is not a precondition for organic export to occur. The proportion of non-mineral associated sinking POC ranged from 0 to 80% and was highest in areas previously shown to be dominated by diatoms. This is consistent with previous estimates showing that transfer efficiency in such regions is low. However we propose that, rather than the low transfer efficiency arising from diatom blooms being inherently characterized by poorly packaged aggregates which are efficiently exported but which disintegrate readily in mid water, it is due to such environments having very high levels of unballasted organic C export. Citation: Le Moigne, F. A. C., R. J. Sanders, M. Villa-Alfageme, A. P. Martin, K. Pabortsava, H. Planquette, P. J. Morris, and S. J. Thomalla (2012), On the proportion of ballast versus non-ballast associated carbon export in the surface ocean, Geophys. Res. Lett., 39, L15610, doi: 10.1029/2012GL052980.
AB - The role of biominerals in driving carbon export from the surface ocean is unclear. We compiled surface particulate organic carbon (POC), and mineral ballast export fluxes from 55 different locations in the Atlantic and Southern Oceans. Substantial surface POC export accompanied by negligible mineral export was recorded implying that association with mineral phases is not a precondition for organic export to occur. The proportion of non-mineral associated sinking POC ranged from 0 to 80% and was highest in areas previously shown to be dominated by diatoms. This is consistent with previous estimates showing that transfer efficiency in such regions is low. However we propose that, rather than the low transfer efficiency arising from diatom blooms being inherently characterized by poorly packaged aggregates which are efficiently exported but which disintegrate readily in mid water, it is due to such environments having very high levels of unballasted organic C export. Citation: Le Moigne, F. A. C., R. J. Sanders, M. Villa-Alfageme, A. P. Martin, K. Pabortsava, H. Planquette, P. J. Morris, and S. J. Thomalla (2012), On the proportion of ballast versus non-ballast associated carbon export in the surface ocean, Geophys. Res. Lett., 39, L15610, doi: 10.1029/2012GL052980.
KW - SILICA
KW - PACIFIC
KW - NORTH
KW - CROZET PLATEAU
KW - SEA
KW - PHAEOCYSTIS
KW - ALUMINUM
KW - PHYTOPLANKTON BLOOM
KW - IRON
KW - SOUTHERN-OCEAN
U2 - 10.1029/2012GL052980
DO - 10.1029/2012GL052980
M3 - Article (Academic Journal)
VL - 39
JO - Geophysical Research Letters
JF - Geophysical Research Letters
SN - 0094-8276
M1 - ARTN L15610
ER -