In situ measurement of mesopelagic particle sinking rates and the control of carbon transfer to the ocean interior during the Vertical Flux in the Global Ocean (VERTIGO) voyages in the North Pacific

Trull, Thomas W.; Bray, Stephen G.; Buesseler, Ken O.; Lamborg, Carl H.; Manganini, Steven J.; Moy, Christopher; Valdes, James R.

doi:10.1016/j.dsr2.2008.04.021

Cited by 125 publications

(126 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…This may have contributed to the high flux attenuation with depth that was found at P2. Regarding the ballasting effect, the presence of calcium carbonate and silica minerals have been demonstrated to influence POC export to traps in the ocean interior (Armstrong et al, 2002;Francois et al, 2002;Klaas and Archer, 2002), although their role may be less relevant closer to the ocean surface (Passow, 2004;Trull et al, 2008). Therefore, the highest CaCO 3 flux at P1 might have enhanced export as previously suggested for this region (Cardinal et al, 2005).…”

Section: Ecosystem Controls On the Flux 441 Influence Of Particle mentioning

confidence: 72%

“…Corr-POC flux and corr-POC cumulative flux are values corrected for possible carry-over of slow-sinking particles from one IRS cycle to the next-see Section 4. Trull et al (2008). Sub-sampling introduces variability of 10-20% from inhomogeneous filter coverage that well exceeds the analytical uncertainties of these methods .…”

Section: Chemical Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The effectiveness of this separation requires evaluation. A particular concern is the possibility that very slow-sinking particles remain in the funnel beyond the duration of a full carousel rotation (6 h in this study and our previous work; Trull et al, 2008), and are thus transferred into the subsequent cycle where they could be erroneously collected into the carousel fractions that collect faster sinking particles. Programming the collection interval of the last cup in the cycle (#11) to have the same one minute duration as the first cup in the subsequent cycle (#1) provides some quality control on this issue .…”

Section: Functioning Of the Sediment Trapsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All three arrays were similar in their overall design and consisted of a surface float beneath which the respective traps were suspended by an elastic link that dampens wave motions. Details of the array design and evidence of its ability to isolate wave motions during rough weather are available by Trull et al (2008), although the SAZ-Sense deployments differed slightly by not including drogues at depth, because the traps themselves act in this capacity. Weather conditions for the P1 and P2 deployments were rough, although more benign at P3.…”

Section: Collection Of Sinking Particles Using Free-drifting Sedimentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To estimate particle sinking rates, we deployed at each station two indented rotating sphere (IRS) traps (described in detail by Peterson et al, 2005Peterson et al, , 2009Trull et al, 2008) at 170 and 320 m depth on a second separate array. The IRS traps (Prime Focus, Inc. Seattle, WA, USA), have cylindrical tubes (0.018 m 2 collection area) that collect particles onto dimpled spheres, which then rotate to transfer the particles into a settling tube for separation into 11 fractions based on their sinking velocities (as shown in Table 4).…”

Section: Collection Of Sinking Particles Using Free-drifting Sedimentmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Controls on mesopelagic particle fluxes in the Sub-Antarctic and Polar Frontal Zones in the Southern Ocean south of Australia in summer—Perspectives from free-drifting sediment traps

Ebersbach

Trull

Davies

et al. 2011

Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography

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a b s t r a c tThe SAZ-Sense project examined ecosystem controls on Southern Ocean carbon export during austral summer (January-February 2007) at three locations: P1 in the low biomass Subantarctic Zone (SAZ) west of Tasmania, P3 in a region of elevated biomass in the SAZ east of Tasmania fuelled by enhanced iron supply, and P2 in High-Nutrient/Low Chlorophyll (HNLC) Polar Frontal Zone (PFZ) waters south of P1 and P3. Sinking particles were collected using (i) a cylindrical time-series (PPS3/3) trap for bulk geochemical fluxes, (ii) indented rotating sphere (IRS) traps operated as in-situ settling columns to determine the flux distribution across sinking-rate fractions, and (iii) cylindrical traps filled with polyacrylamide gels to obtain intact particles for image analysis.Particulate organic carbon (POC) flux at 150 m (PPS3/3 trap) was highest at P1, lower at P2, and lowest at P3 (3.3 71.8, 2.1 7 0.9, and 0.9 70.4 mmol m À 2 d À 1 , respectively). Biogenic silica (BSi) flux was very low in the SAZ (0.2 7 0.2 and 0.02 7 0.005 mmol m À 2 d À 1 at P1 and P3, respectively) and much higher in the PFZ (2.3 7 0.5 mmol m À 2 d À 1 at P2). Hence, the high biomass site P3 did not exhibit a correspondingly high flux of either POC or BSi. Separation of sinking-rate fractions with the IRS traps (at 170 and 320 m depth) was only successful at the PFZ site P2, where a relatively uniform distribution of flux was observed with $ 1/3 of the POC sinking faster than 100 m d À 1 and 1/3 sinking slower than 10 m d À 1 .Analysis of thousands of particles collected with the gel traps (at 140, 190, 240, and 290 m depth) enabled us to identify 5 different categories: fluff-aggregates (low-density porous or amorphous aggregates), faecal-aggregates (denser aggregates composed of different types of particles), cylindrical and ovoid faecal pellets, and isolated phyto-cells (chains and single cells). Faecal-aggregates dominated the flux at all sites, and were larger in size at P1 in comparison to P3. The PFZ site P2 differed strongly from both SAZ sites in having a much higher abundance of diatoms and relatively small-sized faecalaggregates. Overall, the particle images suggest that grazing was an important influence on vertical export at all three sites, with differences in the extents of large aggregate formation and direct diatom export further influencing the differences among the sites.

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Section: Ecosystem Controls On the Flux 441 Influence Of Particle mentioning

confidence: 72%

Section: Chemical Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Functioning Of the Sediment Trapsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Collection Of Sinking Particles Using Free-drifting Sedimentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Collection Of Sinking Particles Using Free-drifting Sedimentmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Controls on mesopelagic particle fluxes in the Sub-Antarctic and Polar Frontal Zones in the Southern Ocean south of Australia in summer—Perspectives from free-drifting sediment traps

Ebersbach

Trull

Davies

et al. 2011

Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography

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Effects of sinking velocities and microbial respiration rates on the attenuation of particulate carbon fluxes through the mesopelagic zone

McDonnell

Boyd

Buesseler

2015

Global Biogeochemical Cycles

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The attenuation of sinking particle fluxes through the mesopelagic zone is an important process that controls the sequestration of carbon and the distribution of other elements throughout the oceans. Case studies at two contrasting sites, the oligotrophic regime of the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study (BATS) and the mesotrophic waters of the west Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) sector of the Southern Ocean, revealed large differences in the rates of particle-attached microbial respiration and the average sinking velocities of marine particles, two parameters that affect the transfer efficiency of particulate matter from the base of the euphotic zone into the deep ocean. Rapid average sinking velocities of 270 ± 150 m d À1 were observed along the WAP, whereas the average velocity was 49 ± 25 m d À1 at the BATS site. Respiration rates of particle-attached microbes were measured using novel RESPIRE (REspiration of Sinking Particles In the subsuRface ocEan) sediment traps that first intercepts sinking particles then incubates them in situ. RESPIRE experiments yielded flux-normalized respiration rates of 0.4 ± 0.1 day À1 at BATS when excluding an outlier of 1.52 day À1 , while these rates were undetectable along the WAP (0.01 ± 0.02 day À1 ). At BATS, flux-normalized respiration rates decreased exponentially with respect to depth below the euphotic zone with a 75% reduction between the 150 and 500 m depths. These findings provide quantitative and mechanistic insights into the processes that control the transfer efficiency of particle flux through the mesopelagic and its variability throughout the global oceans.

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Variability in efficiency of particulate organic carbon export: A model study

Henson

Yool

Sanders

2015

Global Biogeochemical Cycles

115

137

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The flux of organic carbon from the surface ocean to mesopelagic depths is a key component of the global carbon cycle and is ultimately derived from primary production (PP) by phytoplankton. Only a small fraction of organic carbon produced by PP is exported from the upper ocean, referred to as the export efficiency (herein e-ratio). Limited observations of the e-ratio are available, and there is thus considerable interest in using remotely sensed parameters such as sea surface temperature to extrapolate local estimates to global annual export flux. Currently, there are large discrepancies between export estimates derived in this way; one possible explanation is spatial or temporal sampling bias in the observations. Here we examine global patterns in the spatial and seasonal variability in e-ratio and the subsequent effect on export estimates using a high-resolution global biogeochemical model. The model used here represents export as separate slow-and fast-sinking detrital material whose remineralization is respectively temperature dependent and a function of ballasting minerals. We find that both temperature and the fraction of export carried by slow-sinking particles are factors in determining e-ratio, suggesting that current empirical algorithms for e-ratio that only consider temperature are overly simple. We quantify the temporal lag between PP and export, which is greatest in regions of strong variability in PP where seasonal decoupling can result in large e-ratio variability. Extrapolating global export estimates from instantaneous measurements of e-ratio is strongly affected by seasonal variability and can result in errors in estimated export of up to ±60%.

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In situ measurement of mesopelagic particle sinking rates and the control of carbon transfer to the ocean interior during the Vertical Flux in the Global Ocean (VERTIGO) voyages in the North Pacific

Cited by 125 publications

References 58 publications

Controls on mesopelagic particle fluxes in the Sub-Antarctic and Polar Frontal Zones in the Southern Ocean south of Australia in summer—Perspectives from free-drifting sediment traps

Controls on mesopelagic particle fluxes in the Sub-Antarctic and Polar Frontal Zones in the Southern Ocean south of Australia in summer—Perspectives from free-drifting sediment traps

Effects of sinking velocities and microbial respiration rates on the attenuation of particulate carbon fluxes through the mesopelagic zone

Variability in efficiency of particulate organic carbon export: A model study

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