Special issue on “Organic Ligands- A key Control on trace metal biogeochemistry in the ocean” – Published!

This special issue arises from the work of SCOR working group 139 to improve our understanding of the role of organic metal-binding ligands in oceanic biogeochemistry, a main target of the GEOTRACES international programme. This has been achieved through interdisciplinary collaboration comprising trace metal biogeochemists, organic geochemists and biogeochemical modelers.

Marine Chemistry
Volume 173, Pages 1-342 (20 July 2015)
SCOR WG 139: Organic Ligands – A Key Control on Trace Metal Biogeochemistry in the Ocean
Edited by Sylvia Sander, Kristen Buck and Maeve Lohan

The 28 papers in this issue present:

• an intercalibration exercise,
• new on-line tools for analyses of ligand concentrations,
• analytical methodologies for detection and chemical characterization of iron and copper organic complexes in seawater,  
• aerosol soluble organic matter and dust deposition as a source of ligands to the ocean, 
• biological acquisition of organically complexed ligands, 
• distribution of organic ligands,
• first mechanistic description of ligand dynamics in two three-dimensional models of ocean biogeochemistry and circulation and,
• use the concept of L*, a metric of ligand concentration in excess of dissolved Fe concentration, to explore what controls the relationship between the two ligands classes L1 and L2 and dissolved Fe concentrations in the ocean.