Revisiting Carbon Flux Through the Ocean's Twilight Zone

Buesseler, Ken O.; Lamborg, Carl H.; Boyd, Philip W.; Lam, Phoebe J.; Trull, Thomas W.; Bidigare, Robert R.; Bishop, James K. B.; Casciotti, Karen L.; Dehairs, Frank; Elskens, Marc; Honda, Makio C.; Karl, David M.; Siegel, David A.; Silver, Mary W.; Steinberg, Deborah K.; Valdes, James R.; Mooy, Benjamin A. S. Van; Wilson, Stephanie E.

doi:10.1126/science.1137959

Cited by 553 publications

(426 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…In line with this, the decrease in POC exported from Z eu from Days 2 to 6 could have induced a proportional decrease in the rate of POC recycling by the heterotrophic community within the upper twilight zone. Our results also suggest that the processes of POC recycling in the upper twilight zone responded rapidly to the variability of POC inputs from Z eu , as already reported by Buesseler et al (2007b) in the northwest Pacific Ocean.…”

Section: Temporal Variability In Poc Recycling In the Upper Twilight supporting

confidence: 86%

“…The increase (from 26% on Day 2 to 83% on Day 6) in the ratio of the POC sinking flux at 150 m to that below Z eu during the decline of the bloom (Fig. 4b) also emphasizes the increase in the transfer efficiency (Buesseler et al 2007b) of POC through the upper twilight zone during this period. On Day 20, the low e-ratios (20% below Z eu and 15% at 150 m; Fig.…”

Section: Temporal Variability In Poc Recycling In the Upper Twilight mentioning

confidence: 81%

“…These uncertainties are largely attributed to a lack of knowledge on early processes affecting the flux of particles in the twilight zone (i.e. at depths between the base of the euphotic zone [Z eu ] and ~1000 m; Buesseler et al 2007b). The twilight zone, where about 90% of the exported material is thought to be mineralized, is believed to play a critical role in the transfer of biogenic carbon from the ocean surface to the deep ocean (Angel 1989, Tréguer et al 2003).…”

Section: Abstract: Poc Sinking Fluxes · Primary Production · Twilighmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Particulate organic carbon export in the upper twilight zone during the decline of the spring bloom

Pommier¹,

Michel²,

Gosselin³

2008

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Section: Temporal Variability In Poc Recycling In the Upper Twilight supporting

confidence: 86%

Section: Temporal Variability In Poc Recycling In the Upper Twilight mentioning

confidence: 81%

Section: Abstract: Poc Sinking Fluxes · Primary Production · Twilighmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Particulate organic carbon export in the upper twilight zone during the decline of the spring bloom

Pommier¹,

Michel²,

Gosselin³

2008

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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“…Enhanced warming of the upper ocean is predicted to enhance stratification, reducing nutrient input to the upper euphotic zone and causing a shift in phytoplankton assemblages from large, fast-sinking diatoms (with low surface area:volume [SA:V] ratios) to slow-sinking picoplankton (with high SA:V ratios; Bopp et al, 2005). This shift is likely to reduce export flux to the seafloor, as well as transfer efficiency (Buesseler et al, 2007;Morán et al, 2010Morán et al, , 2015Steinacher et al, 2010). Furthermore, freshening of Arctic regions by sea-ice meltwater and episodic input of large river runoff have been shown to reduce phytoplankton size and, by inference, export flux, a trend that has been projected to continue into the future (Li et al, 2009(Li et al, , 2013.…”

Section: Poc Flux or Food Supplymentioning

confidence: 99%

Major impacts of climate change on deep-sea benthic ecosystems

Sweetman

Thurber

Smith

et al. 2017

Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene

253

297

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The deep sea encompasses the largest ecosystems on Earth. Although poorly known, deep seafloor ecosystems provide services that are vitally important to the entire ocean and biosphere. Rising atmospheric greenhouse gases are bringing about significant changes in the environmental properties of the ocean realm in terms of water column oxygenation, temperature, pH and food supply, with concomitant impacts on deep-sea ecosystems. Projections suggest that abyssal (3000-6000 m) ocean temperatures could increase by 1°C over the next 84 years, while abyssal seafloor habitats under areas of deep-water formation may experience reductions in water column oxygen concentrations by as much as 0.03 mL L -1 by 2100. Bathyal depths (200-3000 m) worldwide will undergo the most significant reductions in pH in all oceans by the year 2100 (0.29 to 0.37 pH units). O 2 concentrations will also decline in the bathyal NE Pacific and Southern Oceans, with losses up to 3.7% or more, especially at intermediate depths. Another important environmental parameter, the flux of particulate organic matter to the seafloor, is likely to decline significantly in most oceans, most notably in the abyssal and bathyal Indian Ocean where it is predicted to decrease by 40-55% by the end of the century. Unfortunately, how these major changes will affect deep-seafloor ecosystems is, in some cases, very poorly understood. In this paper, we provide a detailed overview of the impacts of these changing environmental parameters on deep-seafloor ecosystems that will most likely be seen by 2100 in continental margin, abyssal and polar settings. We also consider how these changes may combine with other anthropogenic stressors (e.g., fishing, mineral mining, oil and gas extraction) to further impact deep-seafloor ecosystems and discuss the possible societal implications.

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“…However the importance of minerals is less clear at mesopelagic depths, where POC dominates particle contents to a much greater degree, particle size, and porosity are strong influences on sinking rates (Alldredge and Gotschalk, 1988;Alldredge, 1998;Passow, 2004;Stemmann et al, 2004;De La Rocha and Passow, 2007), and where the vast majority of flux attenuation occurs (Martin et al, 1987;Buesseler et al, 2007a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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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Revisiting Carbon Flux Through the Ocean's Twilight Zone

Cited by 553 publications

References 23 publications

Particulate organic carbon export in the upper twilight zone during the decline of the spring bloom

Particulate organic carbon export in the upper twilight zone during the decline of the spring bloom

Major impacts of climate change on deep-sea benthic ecosystems

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

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