Beschreibung: Unprecedented quantities of heat are entering the Pacific sector of the Arctic Ocean through Bering Strait, particularly during summer months. Though some heat is lost to the atmosphere during autumn cooling, a significant fraction of the incoming warm, salty water subducts (dives beneath) below a cooler fresher layer of near-surface water, subsequently extending hundreds of kilometers into the Beaufort Gyre. Upward turbulent mixing of these sub-surface pockets of heat is likely accelerating sea ice melt in the region. This Pacific-origin water brings both heat and unique biogeochemical properties, contributing to a changing Arctic ecosystem. However, our ability to understand or forecast the role of this incoming water mass has been hampered by lack of understanding of the physical processes controlling subduction and evolution of this this warm water. Crucially, the processes seen here occur at small horizontal scales not resolved by regional forecast models or climate simulations; new parameterizations must be developed that accurately represent the physics. Here we present novel high resolution observations showing the detailed process of subduction and initial evolution of warm Pacific-origin water in the southern Beaufort Gyre.

Beschreibung: © The Author(s), 2021. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in MacKinnon, J. A., Simmons, H. L., Hargrove, J., Thomson, J., Peacock, T., Alford, M. H., Barton, B., Boury, S., Brenner, S. D., Couto, N., Danielson, S. L., Fine, E. C., Graber, H. C., Guthrie, J., Hopkins, J. E., Jayne, S. R., Jeon, C., Klenz, T., Lee, C. M., Lenn, Y-D., Lucas, A. J., Lund, B., Mahaffey, C., Norman, L., Rainville, L., Smith, M. M., Thomas, L. N., Torres-Valdés, S., & Wood, K. R. A warm jet in a cold ocean. Nature Communications, 12(1), (2021): 2418, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22505-5.

Beschreibung: Unprecedented quantities of heat are entering the Pacific sector of the Arctic Ocean through Bering Strait, particularly during summer months. Though some heat is lost to the atmosphere during autumn cooling, a significant fraction of the incoming warm, salty water subducts (dives beneath) below a cooler fresher layer of near-surface water, subsequently extending hundreds of kilometers into the Beaufort Gyre. Upward turbulent mixing of these sub-surface pockets of heat is likely accelerating sea ice melt in the region. This Pacific-origin water brings both heat and unique biogeochemical properties, contributing to a changing Arctic ecosystem. However, our ability to understand or forecast the role of this incoming water mass has been hampered by lack of understanding of the physical processes controlling subduction and evolution of this this warm water. Crucially, the processes seen here occur at small horizontal scales not resolved by regional forecast models or climate simulations; new parameterizations must be developed that accurately represent the physics. Here we present novel high resolution observations showing the detailed process of subduction and initial evolution of warm Pacific-origin water in the southern Beaufort Gyre.

Beschreibung: Support for this work was provided by the US Office of Naval Research Stratified Ocean Dynamics of the Arctic program (grant numbers N000141512903, N000141612378, N000141612377, N000141612379, N0001416123450, N000141612360, N000141612349, N000141812007, N000141812475, and N000141912514). Additional support for biogeochemistry sampling was provided by UK (NERC) and Germany (BMBF) through the Changing Arctic Ocean Program’s ARISE (NE/P006035/1, NE/P006000/2), PEANUTS (NE/R01275X/1, NE/R012547/2, and BMBF 03F0804) projects and the UK-France PhD program DGA/Dstl. Float deployments and hydrographic data compilations were supported in part by North Pacific Research Board grants A91-99a and A91-00a. The deployment of autonomous ocean profilers was supported by ONR, NOAA Research, and the Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean (JISAO) under NOAA Cooperative Agreement NA15OAR4320063.

Beschreibung: © The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Held, N. A., Webb, E. A., McIlvin, M. M., Hutchins, D. A., Cohen, N. R., Moran, D. M., Kunde, K., Lohan, M. C., Mahaffey, C., Woodward, E. M. S., & Saito, M. A. Co-occurrence of fe and P stress in natural populations of the marine diazotroph Trichodesmium. Biogeosciences, 17(9), (2020): 2537-2551, doi:10.5194/bg-17-2537-2020.

Beschreibung: Trichodesmium is a globally important marine microbe that provides fixed nitrogen (N) to otherwise N-limited ecosystems. In nature, nitrogen fixation is likely regulated by iron or phosphate availability, but the extent and interaction of these controls are unclear. From metaproteomics analyses using established protein biomarkers for nutrient stress, we found that iron–phosphate co-stress is the norm rather than the exception for Trichodesmium colonies in the North Atlantic Ocean. Counterintuitively, the nitrogenase enzyme was more abundant under co-stress as opposed to single nutrient stress. This is consistent with the idea that Trichodesmium has a specific physiological state during nutrient co-stress. Organic nitrogen uptake was observed and occurred simultaneously with nitrogen fixation. The quantification of the phosphate ABC transporter PstA combined with a cellular model of nutrient uptake suggested that Trichodesmium is generally confronted by the biophysical limits of membrane space and diffusion rates for iron and phosphate acquisition in the field. Colony formation may benefit nutrient acquisition from particulate and organic sources, alleviating these pressures. The results highlight that to predict the behavior of Trichodesmium, both Fe and P stress must be evaluated simultaneously.

Beschreibung: This research has been supported by the National Science Foundation (Division of Graduate Education (grant nos. 1122274), Division of Ocean Sciences (grant nos. 1657755, 1657757, and 1851222), Directorate for Geosciences (grant no. 1639714)), the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (grant no. 3782), and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) (grant nos. NE/N001079/1 and NE/N001125/1).

Beschreibung: Autoclaved natural seawater collected in the North Pacific Ocean was used as a reference material for nutrients in seawater (RMNS) during an inter-laboratory comparison (I/C) study conducted in 2008. This study was a follow-up to previous studies conducted in 2003 and 2006. A set of six samples was distributed to each of 58 laboratories in 15 countries around the globe, and results were returned by 54 of those laboratories (15 countries). The homogeneities of samples used in the 2008 I/C study, based on analyses for three determinants, were improved compared to those of samples used in the 2003 and 2006 I/C studies. Results of these I/C studies indicate that most of the participating laboratories have an analytical technique for nutrients that is sufficient to provide data of high comparability. The differences between reported concentrations from the same laboratories in the 2006 and 2008 I/C studies for the same batch of RMNS indicate that most of the laboratories have been maintaining internal comparability for two years. Thus, with the current high level of performance in the participating laboratories, the use of a common reference material and the adaptation of an internationally accepted nutrient scale system would increase comparability among laboratories worldwide, and the use of a certified reference material would establish traceability. In the 2008 I/C study we observed a problem of non-linearity of the instruments of the participating laboratories similar to that observed among the laboratories in the 2006 I/C study. This problem of non-linearity should be investigated and discussed to improve comparability for the full range of nutrient concentrations. For silicate comparability in particular, we see relatively larger consensus standard deviations than those for nitrate and phosphate.

Beschreibung: The GO-SHIP nutrient manual covers all aspects of nutrient analysis from basic sample collection and storage, specifically for Continuous Flow analysis using an Auto-Analyzer, and describes some specific nutrient methods for Nitrate, Nitrite, Silicate, Phosphate and Ammonium that are in use by many laboratories carrying out at-sea analysis and repeat hydrography sections across the world. The focus is on segmented flow analyzers not flow injection analyzers. It also covers laboratory best practices including quality control and quality assurance (QC/QA) procedures to obtain the best results, and suggests protocols for the use of reference materials (RM) and certified reference materials (CRMs).

Beschreibung: We used a combined ion pairing - organic matter speciation model (NICA-Donnan) to predict the organic complexation of iron (Fe) at ambient pH and temperature in the Celtic Sea. We optimized our model by direct comparison with Fe speciation determined by Adsorptive Cathodic Stripping Voltammetry using the added Fe-binding ligand 1-nitroso-2-naphthol (HNN) in the presence and absence of natural organic matter. We compared determined Fe speciation with simulated titrations obtained via application of the NICA-Donnan model with four different NICA parameter sets representing a range of binding site strengths and heterogeneities. We tested the assumption that binding sites scale to dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations in marine waters. We found that a constant low DOC concentration resulted in an improved fit of our titration data to the simulated titrations, suggesting that inputs of autochthonous marine DOM may not increase the heterogeneity or concentrations of Fe binding sites. Using the optimal parameter set, we calculated pFe(III)´ (−log(∑Fe(OH)i3−i)) and apparent Fe(III) solubility (SFe(III)app) at ambient pH and temperature in the water column of the Celtic Sea. SFe(III)app was defined as the sum of aqueous inorganic Fe(III) species and Fe(III) bound to DOM formed at a free Fe (Fe3+) concentration equal to the limiting solubility of Fe hydroxide (Fe(OH)3(s)). SFe(III)app was within range of the determined dissolved Fe concentrations observed after winter mixing on the shelf and in waters 〉1500 m depth at our most offshore stations. Our study supports the hypothesis that the ocean dissolved Fe inventory is controlled by the interplay between Fe solubility and Fe binding by organic matter, although the overall number of metal binding sites in the marine environment may not be directly scalable to DOC concentrations.

Beschreibung: Marine diazotrophs convert dinitrogen (N-2) gas into bioavailable nitrogen (N), supporting life in the global ocean. In 2012, the first version of the global oceanic diazotroph database (version 1) was published. Here, we present an updated version of the database (version 2), significantly increasing the number of in situ diazotrophic measurements from 13 565 to 55 286. Data points for N-2 fixation rates, diazotrophic cell abundance, and nifH gene copy abundance have increased by 184 %, 86 %, and 809 %, respectively. Version 2 includes two new data sheets for the nifH gene copy abundance of non-cyanobacterial diazotrophs and cell-specific N2 fixation rates. The measurements of N-2 fixation rates approximately follow a log-normal distribution in both version 1 and version 2. However, version 2 considerably extends both the left and right tails of the distribution. Consequently, when estimating global oceanic N-2 fixation rates using the geometric means of different ocean basins, version 1 and version 2 yield similar rates (43-57 versus 45-63 TgNyr (-1); ranges based on one geometric standard error). In contrast, when using arithmetic means, version 2 suggests a significantly higher rate of 223 +/- 30 TgNyr (-1) (mean +/- standard error; same hereafter) compared to version 1 (74 +/- 7 TgNyr (-1)). Specifically, substantial rate increases are estimated for the South Pacific Ocean (88 +/- 23 versus 20 +/- 2 TgNyr 1), primarily driven by measurements in the southwestern subtropics, and for the North Atlantic Ocean (40 +/- 9 versus 10 +/- 2 TgNyr (-1)). Moreover, version 2 estimates the N-2 fixation rate in the Indian Ocean to be 35 +/- 14 TgNyr (-1), which could not be estimated using version 1 due to limited data availability. Furthermore, a comparison of N-2 fixation rates obtained through different measurement methods at the same months, locations, and depths reveals that the conventional N-15(2) bubble method yields lower rates in 69% cases compared to the new N-15(2) dissolution method. This updated version of the database can facilitate future studies in marine ecology and biogeochemistry. The database is stored at the Figshare repository (https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.21677687; Shao et al., 2022).