Decreasing of the industrial lead contamination in the Amundsen Sea area
Since the phasing-out of leaded automobile gasoline, the imprint of industrial lead is decreasing everywhere.
Atlantic Ocean
Gadolimium, a Rare Earth Element becoming a human contaminant and tracer of wastewater discharge in the ocean
Gadolinium (Gd) is increasingly used in contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging. It is therefore released in the wastes of hospitals and research centres. As a consequence, Hatje and collaborators […]
All mercury species measured along the GEOTRACES-UK section, South Atlantic Ocean
Total mercury (THg), methylated mercury (MeHg), and dissolved gaseous mercury (DGM) concentrations were determined along 40°S in the Atlantic Ocean. All Hg species had higher concentrations in western than in […]
Water masses traced by neodymium isotopic compositions at an unprecedented level in the North Atlantic Ocean
As part of the Dutch GEOTRACES GA02 section, Myriam Lambelet analysed neodymium (Nd) isotopic compositions and concentrations at 12 profiles in the North West Atlantic Ocean, extending from the south […]
When a multi-parameter end-member mixing model allows a quantitative deconvolution of the dissolved rare earth elements behaviour
The dissolved Rare Earth Elements (dREE) data discussed by Zheng and co-workers (2016, see reference below) have been collected along a full depth section at 12°S in the South Atlantic […]
Lead isotopes tracks leakage of Indian Ocean seawater into the Atlantic Ocean
Stable lead isotopes have been measured by Maxence Paul and co-workers along 40°S during the first and second legs of the UK GEOTRACES cruise (GA10) in the Atlantic Ocean. They […]
Metal contents of North Atlantic phytoplankton across environmental gradients
Twining and co-workers (2015, see reference below) provide the first direct measurements of metal quotas in phytoplankton from across the North Atlantic Ocean (US GEOTRACES GA03), known to be subjected […]
New insights into global barium cycling from the first barium isotope data for seawater
A new method developed by Horner and co-workers (2015, see reference below) allows for the determination of dissolved barium (Ba) isotopic compositions in seawater using nanogram quantities of Ba. The […]
Multiple controls on the dissolved aluminium fate in the Western Atlantic Ocean
Thanks to the most impressive set of dissolved aluminium (Al) and silicon (Si) data ever published in the Atlantic Ocean, Middag and co-workers (2015, see reference below) are thoroughly scanning […]
Do you know that coastal phytoplankton is able to adapt to iron limitation?
Oceanographers have long understood that phytoplankton in the open ocean tend to have lower iron (Fe) requirements and/or more strategies for obtaining Fe from the environment. Adding a new twist […]
Decoupling between dissolved zinc and silicon in the North Atlantic Ocean driven by mixing of end-members
Roshan and Wu (2015, see reference below) reveal that the correlation between dissolved zinc (Zn) and silicon (Si) is relatively weak in the North Atlantic Ocean (GA03 US section). They […]
Nitrate isotope distributions on the US GEOTRACES North Atlantic cross-basin section
The distribution of the δ15N and the δ18O in the U.S. GEOTRACES North Atlantic zonal transect (GA03 section) provides an insight on the interaction between aspects of the circulation of […]
Coupling Rare Earth Elements concentrations, neodymium and radium isotopes: a powerful tool to decode environmental processes
For the first time, neodymium (Nd) isotopic compositions have been measured together with dissolved and colloidal Rare Earth Elements (REE) concentrations in the Amazon estuary salinity gradient, as part of […]
How to constrain the biogeochemical cycle of cobalt in the surface Western Atlantic Ocean?
Cobalt (Co) is an important micronutrient for many species living in the surface waters (bacteria, cyanobacteria, different types of phytoplancton…). Interestingly, the Co requirements vary between the different species and […]
New neodymium data in the North East Atlantic Ocean allow progressing on the behaviour of this geochemical tracer
High-resolution vertical profiles of neodymium (Nd) concentrations and isotopic compositions were measured at the eastern part of the US GEOTRACES North Atlantic Zonal Transect (GA03, Gulf of Cadiz – Mauritanian […]
How iron isotopes offer a new window on the oceanic biogeochemical cycling of iron
Two process studies (2008 and 2012) designed to study temporal changes in the biogeochemical cycling of iron (Fe), provide in situ results for dissolved and particulate Fe (DFe and PFe) […]
Radium quartet reveals no less than four main processes along the GEOTRACES North Atlantic Ocean section (30°N)
The four radium (Ra) isotopes (224Ra, 223Ra, 228Ra, 226Ra, “radium quartet”) are produced in situ via decay of their insoluble thorium isotope parents in sediments from the continental margins and […]
Unprecedented set of dissolved manganese data in the North Atlantic Ocean (US GEOTRACES cruise)
Manganese (Mn) is an essential nutrient for biological growth. In the ocean, manganese distribution is sensitive to several processes: redox conditions, photochemistry, biological activity, abiotic scavenging, and also eolian, hydrothermal […]
Why is the deep ocean zinc isotopic signature so heavy?
The oceanic balance of the micronutrient zinc (Zn) is getting more puzzling –although better documented- while the Zn isotope data set increases. Presenting the first high resolution section of seawater […]
Present day neodymium isotopic composition of the Caribbean Sea deep waters questions the paleo-application of this tracer in restricted basins
The first profiles of neodymium (Nd) concentration and isotopic composition in the Carribbean Sea have been published. They show that surface and intermediate waters flow through the Caribbean with essentially […]
The sources of the water soluble organic matter contained in the aerosols over the Atlantic ocean decoded
Organic matter is an important component of aerosols, which can absorb (or scatter) light, contributing a warming (or cooling) effect to the atmospheric radiative budget. However, this impact is tightly […]
The distribution of dissolved iron in the West Atlantic Ocean
Iron (Fe) is an essential trace element for marine life. Extremely low Fe concentrations limit primary production and nitrogen fixation in large parts of the oceans and consequently influence ocean […]
Dissolved iron sources in the North Atlantic Ocean quantified
The relative importance of four different dissolved iron (Fe) sources in the North Atlantic Ocean have been precisely determined for the first time thanks to GEOTRACES. Using a novel method […]
What does the largest data set of zinc concentration ever reported tell us?
Zinc (Zn) is one of the key micronutrients that are measured during the GEOTRACES cruises. N.J. Wyatt and colleagues (2014; see reference below) largely contributed to this collective effort by measuring Zn […]
Sinking organic matter: a major driver of the oceanic zinc cycle?
Zinc (Zn) is a marine micronutrient, important for phytoplankton and involved in biogeochemical cycling throughout the oceans. Despite the importance of this element, the processes that control the oceanic Zn […]
When atmospheric dynamic controls the nutrient distributions in the ocean
Rainfall detection with satellites together with high-resolution data (~0.3°) for dissolved iron (DFe), aluminium (DAl), and inorganic phosphorus (DIP), confirm the existence of a sharp north–south biogeochemical boundary in the […]
The potential of anthropogenic 236-Uranium as a new and transient oceanographic tracer demonstrated in the North Atlantic
236-Uranium (236U) is present on Earth due to natural and anthropogenic production. However, the estimated inventory of anthropogenic 236U (106 kg) largely exceeds the natural one (30 kg). Releasing even […]
Slow-spreading ridges could be major oceanic iron contributor
A large dissolved iron- and manganese-rich plume has been detected by Saito and co-authors over the slow-spreading southern Mid-Atlantic Ridge. This discovery calls into question the assumption that deep-sea hydrothermal […]
Large amounts of soluble manganese(III) identified at the land-ocean interface
Soluble manganese(III) [Mn(III)] is a phase traditionally considered non important in aqueous redox reactions. However, applying a spectrophotometric method sensitive to Mn oxidation state, Madison and co-authors found that up […]
Results from the first US-GEOTRACES cruise in the North Atlantic
Results from the first US-GEOTRACES cruise in the North Atlantic are coming out! Andrew Wozniak and co-authors show that aerosols from European-influenced air masses (combustion influenced) have higher relative iron (Fe) […]