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

Comprehensive quantification of the rare earth element cycle in the northwest Pacific

Cao and co-authors investigate dissolved rare earth elements and the factors controlling their distributions in the northwest Pacific.

Iron and zinc isotopes disentangle the anthropogenic, natural and wildfire sources of aerosols over the North and Equatorial Pacific Ocean

Bunnell and co-authors analysed aerosol iron and zinc isotopic compositions along the North Pacific GEOTRACES GP15 section (Alaska-Tahiti).

Contribution of sandy beaches to the oceanic silica cycle

This paper calls into question the commonly accepted idea of an oceanic silicon cycle in equilibrium.

North – South contrasting behavior of dissolved cobalt in the Indian Ocean

Malla and Singh have studied the complex biogeochemical processes of total dissolved cobalt in the Indian Ocean.

Rechercher