Dissolved iron in the tropical North Atlantic Ocean

Surprisingly high dissolved iron (dFe) values have been found in the subsurface oxygen minimum waters of the tropical North Atlantic from the Cape Verde Islands west to 42°W, reaching concentrations of 1.0-1.5 nmol/kg. Fitzsimmons’ and co-authors results suggest that biological regeneration is a more consistent explanation for this enrichment than sedimentary diagenetic dFe mixed out from the African margin. The authors also mention the limits of artificial fertilizations, since their data demonstrates that high levels of surface Fe enrichment might be relatively ineffective as a means of removing carbon from the surface ocean.

13 Fitzsimmons lFigure: This figure shows vertical dFe distribution in the upper 1000 m of the tropical North Atlantic Ocean. High dFe concentrations are in warm colours (red, orange,etc). Black dots represent sample locations. Please click here to see the figure larger.

 

Reference:

Fitzsimmons, Jessica N., Ruifeng Zhang, Edward A. Boyle (2013) Dissolved iron in the tropical North Atlantic Ocean, Marine Chemistry, Volume: 154, 87-99, DOI:10.1016/j.marchem.2013.05.009

Latest highlights

Overlooked riverine contributions of dissolved neodymium and hafnium to the Amazon estuary and oceans

Xu and colleagues investigated the isotopic composition of dissolved neodymium and hafnium along the entire salinity gradient of the Amazon estuary.

Pulling back the veil on reversible scavenging of lead

This work further contains the role that reversible scavenging may play in the cycling of lead in the ocean, an ever-evolving global experiment where lead contamination can be tracked in real-time.

Extremely high radioactive levels in the manganese nodules

Volz and co-authors demonstrate that radioisotopes in the manganese nodules mostly exceed exempt activity levels…

The North Pacific Ocean, a key actor for the zinc oceanic cycle

Sieber and his colleagues lift the veil on some of the mechanisms that control the behavior of zinc in the Pacific Ocean, and more globally.

Rechercher