Description: © The Author(s), 2015. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Biogeosciences 12 (2015): 5199-5210, doi:10.5194/bg-12-5199-2015.

Description: Significant rates of primary production occur in the oligotrophic ocean, without any measurable nutrients present in the mixed layer, fueling a scientific paradox that has lasted for decades. Here, we provide a new determination of the annual mean physical supply of nitrate to the euphotic zone in the western subtropical North Atlantic. We combine a 3-year time series of measurements of tritiugenic 3He from 2003 to 2006 in the surface ocean at the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study (BATS) site with a sophisticated noble gas calibrated air–sea gas exchange model to constrain the 3He flux across the sea–air interface, which must closely mirror the upward 3He flux into the euphotic zone. The product of the 3He flux and the observed subsurface nitrate–3He relationship provides an estimate of the minimum rate of new production in the BATS region. We also apply the gas model to an earlier time series of 3He measurements at BATS in order to recalculate new production fluxes for the 1985 to 1988 time period. The observations, despite an almost 3-fold difference in the nitrate–3He relationship, yield a roughly consistent estimate of nitrate flux. In particular, the nitrate flux from 2003 to 2006 is estimated to be 0.65 ± 0.14 mol m−2 yr−1, which is ~40 % smaller than the calculated flux for the period from 1985 to 1988. The difference in nitrate flux between the time periods may be signifying a real difference in new production resulting from changes in subtropical mode water formation. Overall, the nitrate flux is larger than most estimates of export fluxes or net community production fluxes made locally for the BATS site, which is likely a reflection of the larger spatial scale covered by the 3He technique and potentially also by the decoupling of 3He and nitrate during the obduction of water masses from the main thermocline into the upper ocean. The upward nitrate flux is certainly large enough to support observed rates of primary production at BATS and more generally in the oligotrophic subtropical ocean.

Description: This research was funded by the National Science Foundation (OCE-1434000 and OCE-221247).

Description: © The Author(s), 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Jenkins, W. J., Doney, S. C., Fendrock, M., Fine, R., Gamo, T., Jean-Baptiste, P., Key, R., Klein, B., Lupton, J. E., Newton, R., Rhein, M., Roether, W., Sano, Y., Schlitzer, R., Schlosser, P., & Swift, J. A comprehensive global oceanic dataset of helium isotope and tritium measurements. Earth System Science Data, 11(2), (2019):441-454, doi:10.5194/essd-11-441-2019.

Description: Tritium and helium isotope data provide key information on ocean circulation, ventilation, and mixing, as well as the rates of biogeochemical processes and deep-ocean hydrothermal processes. We present here global oceanic datasets of tritium and helium isotope measurements made by numerous researchers and laboratories over a period exceeding 60 years. The dataset's DOI is https://doi.org/10.25921/c1sn-9631, and the data are available at https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/ocads/data/0176626.xml (last access: 15 March 2019) or alternately http://odv.awi.de/data/ocean/jenkins-tritium-helium-data-compilation/ (last access: 13 March 2019) and includes approximately 60 000 valid tritium measurements, 63 000 valid helium isotope determinations, 57 000 dissolved helium concentrations, and 34 000 dissolved neon concentrations. Some quality control has been applied in that questionable data have been flagged and clearly compromised data excluded entirely. Appropriate metadata have been included, including geographic location, date, and sample depth. When available, we include water temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen. Data quality flags and data originator information (including methodology) are also included. This paper provides an introduction to the dataset along with some discussion of its broader qualities and graphics.

Description: This synthesis work was funded under the auspices of a U.S. National Science Foundation grant number OCE-1434000. Financial support for the actual measurements came from a wide variety of different research grants from many agencies in many countries, far too numerous to list here. William J. Jenkins is grateful to a number of US funding sources, most notably the National Science Foundation, NOAA, DOE, and ONR.