Marañón
Emilio
Marañón
Emilio
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PreprintMesopelagic respiration near the ESTOC (European Station for Time-Series in the Ocean, 15.5°W, 29.1°N) site inferred from a tracer conservation model( 2016-05-23) Fernández Castro, Bieito ; Arístegui, Javier ; Anderson, Lawrence A. ; Montero, Maria F. ; Hernández-León, Santiago ; Marañón, Emilio ; Mourino-Carballido, BeatrizRemineralization of organic matter in the mesopelagic zone (ca. 150–700 m) is a key controlling factor of carbon export to the deep ocean. By using a tracer conservation model applied to climatological data of oxygen, dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and nitrate, we computed mesopelagic respiration at the ESTOC (European Station for Time- Series in the Ocean, Canary Islands) site, located in the Eastern boundary region of the North Atlantic subtropical gyre. The tracer conservation model included vertical Ekman advection, geostrophic horizontal transport and vertical diffusion, and the biological remineralization terms were diagnosed by assuming steady state. Three different approaches were used to compute reference velocities used for the calculation of geostrophic velocities and flux divergences: a no-motion level at 3000 m, surface geostrophic velocities computed from the averaged absolute dynamic topography field, and surface velocities optimized from the temperature model. Mesopelagic respiration rates computed from the model were 2.8–8.9molO2 m2 y=1, 2.0–3.1mol Cm2 y=1 and 0.6–1.0molNm2 y=1, consistent with remineralization processes occurring close to Redfield stoichiometry. Model estimates were in close agreement with respiratory activity, derived from electron transport system (ETS) measurements collected in the same region at the end of the winter bloom period (3.61 ± 0.48molO2 m=2 y=1). According to ETS estimates, 50% of the respiration in the upper 1000 m took place below 150 m. Model results showed that oxygen, DIC and nitrate budgets were dominated by lateral advection, pointing to horizontal transport as the main source of organic carbon fuelling the heterotrophic respiration activity in this region.
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ArticleRegional differences in modelled net production and shallow remineralization in the North Atlantic subtropical gyre(Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union, 2012-08-01) Fernandez-Castro, B. ; Anderson, Laurence A. ; Marañón, Emilio ; Neuer, Susanne ; Ausiin, B. ; Gonzalez-Davila, M. ; Santana-Casiano, J. M. ; Cianca, Andrés ; Santana, R. ; Llinas, Octavio ; Rueda, María José ; Mourino-Carballido, BeatrizWe used 5-yr concomitant data of tracer distribution from the BATS (Bermuda Time-series Study) and ESTOC (European Station for Time-Series in the Ocean, Canary Islands) sites to build a 1-D tracer model conservation including horizontal advection, and then compute net production and shallow remineralization rates for both sites. Our main goal was to verify if differences in these rates are consistent with the lower export rates of particulate organic carbon observed at ESTOC. Net production rates computed below the mixed layer to 110 m from April to December for oxygen, dissolved inorganic carbon and nitrate at BATS (1.34±0.79 mol O2 m−2, −1.73±0.52 mol C m−2 and −125±36 mmol N m−2) were slightly higher for oxygen and carbon compared to ESTOC (1.03±0.62 mol O2 m−2, −1.42±0.30 mol C m−2 and −213±56 mmol N m−2), although the differences were not statistically significant. Shallow remineralization rates between 110 and 250 m computed at ESTOC (−3.9±1.0 mol O2 m−2, 1.53±0.43 mol C m−2 and 38±155 mmol N m−2) were statistically higher for oxygen compared to BATS (−1.81±0.37 mol O2 m−2, 1.52±0.30 mol C m−2 and 147±43 mmol N m−2). The lateral advective flux divergence of tracers, which was more significant at ESTOC, was responsible for the differences in estimated oxygen remineralization rates between both stations. According to these results, the differences in net production and shallow remineralization cannot fully explain the differences in the flux of sinking organic matter observed between both stations, suggesting an additional consumption of non-sinking organic matter at ESTOC.