No abstract

Iron availability is suggested to be a primary factor limiting nitrogen fixation in the oceans. This hypothesis is principally based on cost-benefit analyses of iron quotas in the dominant nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria, Trichodesmium spp., in the contemporary oceans. Although previous studies with Trichodesmium have indicated that iron availability enhanced nitrogen fixation and photosynthesis, no clear relationship has been reported between cellular iron quotas and nitrogen fixation. We re-examined the proposed link between iron availability and nitrogen fixation in laboratory isolates and natural populations collected from coastal waters north of Australia. In laboratory cultures grown under iron-limiting conditions, we measured a decline in cellular iron quotas, photochemical quantum yields, the relative abundance of photosystem I to photosystem II reaction centers, and rates of nitrogen fixation. Nitrogen fixation displayed a critical threshold of the dissolved sum of total inorganic Fe species ([FeЈ]) of ca. log[FeЈ] ϭ Ϫ9.7. Field populations of Trichodesmium, collected during bloom conditions, showed high iron quotas consistent with high nitrogen fixation rates. Using seasonal maps of aeolian iron fluxes and model-derived maps of surface water total dissolved Fe, we calculated the potential of nitrogen fixation by Trichodesmium in the global ocean. Our results suggest that in 75% of the global ocean, iron availability limits nitrogen fixation by this organism. Given present trends in the hydrological cycle, we suggest that iron fluxes will be even more limiting in the coming century.Nitrogen fixation by planktonic prokaryotes is a major source of new nitrogen for the oceans (Capone et al. 1997;. In all cyanobacteria, the enzyme responsible for this process, nitrogenase, consists of two proteins, an iron 1 Corresponding author (irfrank@imcs.rutgers.edu). AcknowledgmentsWe thank J. and Y. Reinfelder for their help with the tracer experiments, iron solubility, and MINEQLϩ calculations; H. M. Geller and N. Goldman from the Department of Pharmacology, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, for help and access to the confocal laser; P. Ludden for the antibody to nitrogenase; D. Kolber for generating the global maps; K. Wyman for invaluable lab assistance; and D. Capone, E. Carpenter, and the crew of the R/V Ewing for enabling our field sampling. We also thank J. Prospero, F. M. M. Morel, and two anonymous reviewers for their comments.

In situ enrichment experiments have shown that the growth of bloom-forming diatoms in the major high-nitrate low-chlorophyll (HNLC) regions of the world's oceans is limited by the availability of iron. Yet even the largest of these manipulative experiments represents only a small fraction of an ocean basin, and the responses observed are strongly influenced by the proliferation of rare species rather than the growth of naturally dominant populations. Here we link unique fluorescence attributes of phytoplankton to specific physiological responses to nutrient stress, and use these relationships to evaluate the factors that constrain phytoplankton growth in the tropical Pacific Ocean on an unprecedented spatial scale. On the basis of fluorescence measurements taken over 12 years, we delineate three major ecophysiological regimes in this region. We find that iron has a key function in regulating phytoplankton growth in both HNLC and oligotrophic waters near the Equator and further south, whereas nitrogen and zooplankton grazing are the primary factors that regulate biomass production in the north. Application of our findings to the interpretation of satellite chlorophyll fields shows that productivity in the tropical Pacific basin may be 1.2-2.5 Pg C yr(-1) lower than previous estimates have suggested, a difference that is comparable to the global change in ocean production that accompanied the largest El Niño to La Niña transition on record.

Abstract. Using bathymetric transects of surface sediments underlying similar sea surface temperatures but exposed to increasing dissolution, we examined the processes which affect the relationship between foraminiferal Mg/Ca and 5180. We found that Globigerinoides saccculifer calcifies over a relatively large range of water depth and that this is apparent in their Mg content. On the seafloor, foraminiferal Mg/Ca is substantially altered by dissolution with the degree of alteration increasing with water depth. Selective dissolution of the chamber calcite, formed in surface waters, shifts the shell's bulk Mg/Ca and 5180 toward the chemistries of the secondary crust acquired in colder thermocline waters. The magnitude of this shift depends on both the range of temperatures over which the shell calcified and the degree to which it is subsequently dissolved. In spite of this shift the initial relationship between Mg/Ca and 5180, determined by their temperature dependence, is maintained. We conclude that paired measurements of 5180 and Mg/Ca can be used for reconstructing 518Owater, though care must be taken to determine where in the water column the reconstruction applies.

In contrast, pMn showed no gravitational settling behavior (Figures 1, 4b). Instead, peak 116 pMn concentrations remained close in depth to dMn and 3 He xs and followed density surfaces, 117 indicative of isopycnal mixing. Thus, while most pMn and pFe are removed exponentially from (Figures 1, S1). 159The physicochemical form of hydrothermal dissolved iron -A key finding of this study, 160 not discussed previously 8 but critical to the fate of Fe in the SEPR hydrothermal plume, is that 161 the maximum dissolved Fe also deepens by ~350 m by Sta. 36, mimicking pFe (Figures 1, 4a). is not isotopically resolvable in the near-field plume (dFe >5 nM). would not apply to dMn because dMn is minimally complexed by organic matter in natural 233 waters 2 , and negligible Mn was observed in the colloidal fraction ( Figure S4).

shelf-and river-derived elements to the central Arctic Ocean • The TPD is rich in dissolved organic matter (DOM), which facilitates long-range transport of trace metals that form complexes with DOM • Margin trace element fluxes may increase with future Arctic warming due to DOM release from permafrost thaw and increasing river discharge

[1] The Sr/Ca ratio of coral aragonite is used to reconstruct past sea surface temperature (SST). Twentyone laboratories took part in an interlaboratory study of coral Sr/Ca measurements. Results show interlaboratory bias can be significant, and in the extreme case could result in a range in SST estimates of 7 C. However, most of the data fall within a narrower range and the Porites coral reference material JCp-1 is now characterized well enough to have a certified Sr/Ca value of 8.838 mmol/mol with an expanded uncertainty of 0.089 mmol/mol following International Association of Geoanalysts (IAG) guidelines. This uncertainty, at the 95% confidence level, equates to 1.5 C for SST estimates using Porites, so is approaching fitness for purpose. The comparable median within laboratory error is <0.5 C. This difference in uncertainties illustrates the interlaboratory bias component that should be reduced through the use of reference materials like the JCp-1. There are many potential sources contributing to biases in comparative methods but traces of Sr in Ca standards and uncertainties in reference solution composition can account for half of the combined uncertainty. Consensus values that fulfil the requirements to be certified values were also obtained for Mg/Ca in JCp-1 and for Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca ratios in the JCt-1 giant clam reference material. Reference values with variable fitness for purpose have also been obtained for Li/Ca, B/Ca, Ba/Ca, and U/Ca in both reference materials. In future, studies reporting coral element/Ca data should also report the average value obtained for a reference material such as the JCp-1.

We present the first densely-sampled hydrographic survey of the Amundsen Sea Polynya (ASP) region, including a detailed characterization of its freshwater distributions. Multiple components contribute to the freshwater budget, including precipitation, sea ice melt, basal ice shelf melt, and iceberg melt, from local and non-local sources. We used stable oxygen isotope ratios in seawater (d 18 O) to distinguish quantitatively the contributions from sea ice and meteoric-derived sources. Meteoric fractions were high throughout the winter mixed layer (WML), with maximum values of 2-3% (±0.5%). Because the ASP region is characterized by deep WMLs, column inventories of total meteoric water were also high, ranging from 10-13 m (±2 m) adjacent to the Dotson Ice Shelf (DIS) and in the deep trough to 7-9 m (±2 m) in shallower areas. These inventories are at least twice those reported for continental shelf waters near the western Antarctic Peninsula. Sea ice melt fractions were mostly negative, indicating net (annual) sea ice formation, consistent with this area being an active polynya. Independently determined fractions of subsurface glacial meltwater (as one component of the total meteoric inventory) had maximum values of 1-2% (±0.5%), with highest and shallowest maximum values at the DIS outflow (80-90 m) and in iceberg-stirred waters (150-200 m). In addition to these upwelling sites, contributions of subsurface glacial meltwater could be traced at depth along the ~ 27.6 isopycnal, from which it mixes into the WML through various processes. Our results suggest a quasi-continuous supply of melt-laden iron-enriched seawater to the euphotic zone of the ASP and help to explain why the ASP is Antarctica's most biologically productive polynya per unit area.