[1] We formulate a mechanistic model of the coupled oceanic iron and phosphorus cycles. The iron parameterization includes scavenging onto sinking particles, complexation with an organic ligand, and a prescribed aeolian source. Export production is limited by the availability of light, phosphate, and iron. We implement this biogeochemical scheme in a coarse resolution ocean general circulation model using scavenging rates and conditional stability constants guided by laboratory studies and a suite of box model sensitivity studies. The model is able to reproduce the broad regional patterns of iron and phosphorus. In particular, the high macronutrient concentrations of the Southern Ocean, tropical Pacific, and subarctic Pacific emerge from the explicit iron limitation of the model. In addition, the model also qualitatively reproduces the observed interbasin gradients of deep, dissolved iron with the lowest values in the Southern Ocean. The ubiquitous presence of significant amounts of free ligand is also explicitly captured. We define a tracer, Fe* which quantifies the degree to which a water mass is iron limited, relative to phosphorus. Surface waters in high-nutrient, lowchlorophyll regions have negative Fe* values, indicating Fe limitation. The extent of the decoupling of iron and phosphorus is determined by the availability and binding strength of the ligand relative to the scavenging by particulate. Global iron concentrations are sensitive to changes in scavenging rate and physical forcing. Decreasing the scavenging rate 40% results in $0.1 nM increase in dissolved iron in deep waters. Forcing the model with weaker wind stresses leads to a decrease in surface [PO 4 ] and [Fe] in the Southern Ocean due to a reduction in the upwelling strength.

[1] We use an ocean circulation, biogeochemistry, and ecosystem model to explore the interactions between ocean circulation, macro-and micro-nutrient supply to the euphotic layer, and biological productivity. The model suggests a tight coupling between the degree of iron limitation in the upwelling subpolar and tropical oceans and the productivity of the adjacent subtropical gyres. This coupling is facilitated by lateral Ekman transfer of macro-nutrients in the surface ocean. We describe a coarse resolution configuration of the MIT ocean circulation and biogeochemistry model in which there are fully prognostic representations of the oceanic cycles of phosphorus, iron, and silicon. The pelagic ecosystem is represented using two functional groups of phytoplankton and a single grazer. Using present-day forcing, the model qualitatively captures the observed basin and gyre scale patterns of nutrient distributions and productivity. In a suite of sensitivity studies we find significant regional variations in response to changes in the aeolian iron supply. In a dustier (model) world, the Southern Ocean and Indo-Pacific upwelling regions are more productive, but there is a decrease in productivity in the subtropical gyres and throughout the Atlantic basin. These results can be described most easily by a simple conceptual classification of the Southern and Indo-Pacific oceans into two regimes: (1) upwelling, iron limited regions and (2) macro-nutrient limited, oligotrophic subtropical gyres. Enhancing the aeolian iron supply to the upwelling regions relieves iron limitation and increases local primary and export production, but reduces the Ekman transfer of phosphate to the neighboring subtropical gyres. Consequently, over time, the gyres become further depleted in macro-nutrients and productivity decreases in response to global scale iron fertilization. In a large-scale analogy, the macro-nutrient budget of the Atlantic is maintained by lateral transfer of nutrients in the upper ocean. Enhanced aeolian supply of iron leads to increased productivity in the Southern Ocean and Indo-Pacific upwelling regions, reducing the lateral transfer of macro-nutrients to the Atlantic basin, which becomes increasingly macro-nutrient limited throughout.Citation: Dutkiewicz, S., M. J. Follows, and P. Parekh (2005), Interactions of the iron and phosphorus cycles: A three-dimensional model study, Global Biogeochem. Cycles, 19, GB1021,

[1] We describe a model of the ocean transport and biogeochemical cycling of iron and the subsequent control on export production and macronutrient distributions. Ocean transport of phosphorus and iron are represented by a highly idealized six-box ocean model. Export production is parameterized simply; it is limited by light, phosphate, and iron availability in the surface ocean. We prescribe the regional variations in aeolian deposition of iron and examine three parameterizations of iron cycling in the deep ocean: (1) net scavenging onto particles, the simplest model; (2) scavenging and desorption of iron to and from particles, analogous to thorium; and (3) complexation. Provided that some unknown parameter values can be set appropriately, all three biogeochemical models are capable of reproducing the broad features of the iron distribution observed in the modern ocean and explicitly lead to regions of elevated surface phosphate, particularly in the Southern Ocean. We compare the sensitivity of Southern Ocean surface macronutrient concentration to increased aeolian dust supply for each parameterization. Both scavenging-based representations respond to increasing dust supply with a drawdown of surface phosphate in an almost linear relationship. The complexation parameterization, however, asymptotes toward a limited drawdown of phosphate under the assumption that ligand production does not respond to increased dust flux. In the scavenging based models, deep water iron concentrations and, therefore, upwelled iron continually increase with greater dust supply. In contrast, the availability of complexing ligand provides an upper limit for the deep water iron concentration in the latter model.

a b s t r a c tRecent progress in the reconstruction of atmospheric CO 2 records from Antarctic ice cores has allowed for the documentation of natural CO 2 variations on orbital time scales over the last up to 800,000 years and for the resolution of millennial CO 2 variations during the last glacial cycle in unprecedented detail. This has shown that atmospheric CO 2 varied within natural bounds of approximately 170-300 ppmv but never reached recent CO 2 concentrations caused by anthropogenic CO 2 emissions. In addition, the natural atmospheric CO 2 concentrations show an extraordinary correlation with Southern Ocean climate changes, pointing to a significant (direct or indirect) influence of climatic and environmental changes in the Southern Ocean region on atmospheric CO 2 concentrations.Here, we compile recent ice core and marine sediment records of atmospheric CO 2 , temperature and environmental changes in the Southern Ocean region, as well as carbon cycle model experiments, in order to quantify the effect of potential Southern Ocean processes on atmospheric CO 2 related to these orbital and millennial changes. This shows that physical and biological changes in the SO are able to explain substantial parts of the glacial/interglacial CO 2 change, but that none of the single processes is able to explain this change by itself. In particular, changes in the Southern Ocean related to changes in the surface buoyancy flux, which in return is controlled by the waxing and waning of sea ice may favorably explain the high correlation of CO 2 and Antarctic temperature on orbital and millennial time scales. In contrast, the changes of the position and strength of the westerly wind field were most likely too small to explain the observed changes in atmospheric CO 2 or may even have increased atmospheric CO 2 in the glacial. Also iron fertilization of the marine biota in the Southern Ocean contributes to a glacial drawdown of CO 2 but turns out to be limited by other factors than the total dust input such as bioavailability of iron or macronutrient supply.