Net community production, Thorium-234 activity and particle flux during the Southern Ocean iron fertilization experiment LOHAFEX

A closed eddy core in the Subantarctic Atlantic Ocean was fertilized twice with two tons of iron (as FeSO4), and the 300 km**2 fertilized patch was studied for 39 days to test whether fertilization enhances downward particle flux into the deep ocean. Chlorophyll a and primary productivity doubled after fertilization, and photosynthetic quantum yield (FV/FM) increased from 0.33 to >0.40. Silicic acid (<2 µmol/L) limited diatoms, which contributed <10% of phytoplankton biomass. Copepods exerted high grazing pressure. This is the first study of particle flux out of an artificially fertilized bloom with very low diatom biomass. Net community production (NCP) inside the patch, estimated from O2:Ar ratios, averaged 21 mmol POC/m**2/d, probably ±20%. 234Th profiles implied constant export of ~6.3 mmol POC/m**2/d in the patch, similar to unfertilized waters. The difference between NCP and 234Th-derived export partly accumulated in the mixed layer and was partly remineralized between the mixed layer and 100 m. Neutrally buoyant sediment traps at 200 and 450 m inside and outside the patch caught mostly <1.1 mmol POC/m**2/d, predominantly of fecal origin; flux did not increase upon fertilization. Our data thus indicate intense flux attenuation between 100 and 200 m, and probably between the mixed layer and 100 m. We attribute the lack of fertilization-induced export to silicon limitation of diatoms and reprocessing of sinking particles by detritus feeders. Our data are consistent with the view that nitrate-rich but silicate-deficient waters are not poised for enhanced particle export upon iron addition.

Oxygen, pH and calcium dynamics and fluxes at the thallus surface under ambient (8.1) and low (7.8) seawater pH and across a range of irradiances

Presently, an incomplete mechanistic understanding of tropical reef macroalgae photosynthesis and calcification restricts predictions of how these important autotrophs will respond to global change. Therefore, we investigated the mechanistic link between inorganic carbon uptake pathways, photosynthesis and calcification in a tropical crustose coralline alga (CCA) using microsensors. We measured pH, oxygen (O2), and calcium (Ca2+) dynamics and fluxes at the thallus surface under ambient (8.1) and low (7.8) seawater pH (pHSW) and across a range of irradiances. Acetazolamide (AZ) was used to inhibit extracellular carbonic anhydrase (CAext), which mediates hydrolysis of HCO3-, and 4,4' diisothiocyanatostilbene-2,2'-disulphonate (DIDS) that blocks direct HCO3- uptake by anion exchange transport. Both inhibited photosynthesis, suggesting both diffusive uptake of CO2 via HCO3- hydrolysis to CO2 and direct HCO3- ion transport are important in this CCA. Surface pH was raised approximately 0.3 units at saturating irradiance, but less when CAext was inhibited. Surface pH was lower at pHSW 7.8 than pHSW 8.1 in the dark, but not in the light. The Ca2+ fluxes were large, complex and temporally variable, but revealed net Ca2+ uptake under all conditions. The temporal variability in Ca2+ dynamics was potentially related to localized dissolution during epithallial cell sloughing, a strategy of CCA to remove epiphytes. Simultaneous Ca2+ and pH dynamics suggest the presence of Ca2+/H+ exchange. Rapid light-induced H+ surface dynamics that continued after inhibition of photosynthesis revealed the presence of a light-mediated, but photosynthesis-independent, proton pump. Thus, the study indicates metabolic control of surface pH can occur in CCA through photosynthesis and light-inducible H+ pumps. Our results suggest that complex light-induced ion pumps play an important role in biological processes related to inorganic carbon uptake and calcification in CCA.

Physical oceanography and processed 2 minutes-averaged continuous VM-ADCP profiles during POLARSTERN cruise ANT-XXVIII/3

The physical and biological carbon pumps in the different hydrographic and biogeochemical regimes of the Atlantic Sector of the Southern Ocean are controlled by a series of coupled physical, chemical and biological processes and a project named Eddy-Pump was designed to study them. The Eddy Pump field campaign was carried out during RV Polarstern Cruise ANT-XXVIII/3 between January and March 2012. Particular emphasis was laid on the differences which occur along the axis of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) with its associated mesoscale eddy field. The study sites were selected in order to represent (1) the central ACC with its regular separation in different frontal jets, investigated by a meridional transect along 10°E; (2) a large-scale bloom west of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge which lasted several months with conspicuous chlorophyll-poor waters to its immediate east studied by a three-dimensional mesoscale survey centred at 12°40'W; and (3) the Georgia Basin north of the island of South Georgia, which regularly features an extended and dense phytoplankton bloom, was investigated by a mesoscale survey centred at 38°12'W. While Eddy-Pump represents an interdisciplinary project by design, we here focus on describing the variable physical environment within which the different biogeochemical regimes developed. For describing the physical environment we use measurements of temperature, salinity and density, of mixed-layer turbulence parameters, of dynamic heights and horizontal current vectors, and of flow trajectories obtained from surface drifters and submerged floats. This serves as background information for the analyses of biological and chemical processes and of biogeochemical fluxes addressed by other papers in this issue. The section along 10°E between 44°S and 53°S showed a classical ACC structure with well-known hydrographic fronts, the Subantarctic Front (SAF) at 46.5°S, the Antarctic Polar Front (APF) split in two, at 49.25°S and 50.5°S, and the Southern Polar Front (SPF) at 52.5°S. Each front was associated with strong eastward flows. The West Mid-Atlantic Ridge Survey showed a weak and poorly resolved meander structure between the APF and the SPF. During the first eight days of the survey the oceanographic conditions at the Central Station at 12°40'W remained reasonably constant. However after that, conditions became more variable in the thermocline with conspicuous temperature inversions and interleavings and also a decrease in temperature in the surface layer. At the very end of the period of observation the conditions in the thermocline returned to being similar to those observed during the early part of the period with however the mixed layer temperature raised. The period of enhanced thermohaline variability was accompanied by increased currents. The Georgia Basin Survey showed a very strong zonal jet at its northern edge which connects to a large cyclonic meander that itself joins an anticyclonic eddy in the southeastern quadrant. The water mass contrasts in this survey were stronger than in the West Mid-Atlantic Ridge Survey, but similar to those met along 10°E with the exception that the warm and saline surface water typical of the northern side of the SAF was not covered by the Georgia Basin Survey. Mixed layers found during Eddy-Pump were typically deep, but varied between the three survey areas; the mean depths and standard variations of the mixed layer along the 10°E were 77.2±24.7 m, at the West Mid-Atlantic Ridge 66.7±17.7 m, and in the Georgia Basin 36.8±10.7 m.