Siegel
David A.
Siegel
David A.
No Thumbnail Available
11 results
Search Results
Now showing
1 - 11 of 11
-
ArticleMetrics that matter for assessing the ocean biological carbon pump(National Academy of Sciences, 2020-04-06) Buesseler, Ken O. ; Boyd, Philip ; Black, Erin E. ; Siegel, David A.The biological carbon pump (BCP) comprises wide-ranging processes that set carbon supply, consumption, and storage in the oceans’ interior. It is becoming increasingly evident that small changes in the efficiency of the BCP can significantly alter ocean carbon sequestration and, thus, atmospheric CO2 and climate, as well as the functioning of midwater ecosystems. Earth system models, including those used by the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, most often assess POC (particulate organic carbon) flux into the ocean interior at a fixed reference depth. The extrapolation of these fluxes to other depths, which defines the BCP efficiencies, is often executed using an idealized and empirically based flux-vs.-depth relationship, often referred to as the “Martin curve.” We use a new compilation of POC fluxes in the upper ocean to reveal very different patterns in BCP efficiencies depending upon whether the fluxes are assessed at a fixed reference depth or relative to the depth of the sunlit euphotic zone (Ez). We find that the fixed-depth approach underestimates BCP efficiencies when the Ez is shallow, and vice versa. This adjustment alters regional assessments of BCP efficiencies as well as global carbon budgets and the interpretation of prior BCP studies. With several international studies recently underway to study the ocean BCP, there are new and unique opportunities to improve our understanding of the mechanistic controls on BCP efficiencies. However, we will only be able to compare results between studies if we use a common set of Ez-based metrics.
-
PreprintVERTIGO (VERtical Transport In the Global Ocean) : a study of particle sources and flux attenuation in the North Pacific( 2008-03-21) Buesseler, Ken O. ; Trull, Thomas W. ; Steinberg, Deborah K. ; Silver, Mary W. ; Siegel, David A. ; Saitoh, S.-I. ; Lamborg, Carl H. ; Lam, Phoebe J. ; Karl, David M. ; Jiao, N. Z. ; Honda, Makio C. ; Elskens, Marc ; Dehairs, Frank ; Brown, S. I. ; Boyd, Philip W. ; Bishop, James K. B. ; Bidigare, Robert R.The VERtical Transport In the Global Ocean (VERTIGO) study examined particle sources and fluxes through the ocean’s “twilight zone” (defined here as depths below the euphotic zone to 1000 m). Interdisciplinary process studies were conducted at contrasting sites off Hawaii (ALOHA) and in the NW Pacific (K2) during 3 week occupations in 2004 and 2005, respectively. We examine in this overview paper the contrasting physical, chemical and biological settings and how these conditions impact the source characteristics of the sinking material and the transport efficiency through the twilight zone. A major finding in VERTIGO is the considerably lower transfer efficiency (Teff) of particulate organic carbon (POC), POC flux 500 / 150 m, at ALOHA (20%) vs. K2 (50%). This efficiency is higher in the diatom-dominated setting at K2 where silica-rich particles dominate the flux at the end of a diatom bloom, and where zooplankton and their pellets are larger. At K2, the drawdown of macronutrients is used to assess export and suggests that shallow remineralization above our 150 m trap is significant, especially for N relative to Si. We explore here also surface export ratios (POC flux/primary production) and possible reasons why this ratio is higher at K2, especially during the first trap deployment. When we compare the 500 m fluxes to deep moored traps, both sites lose about half of the sinking POC by >4000 m, but this comparison is limited in that fluxes at depth may have both a local and distant component. Certainly, the greatest difference in particle flux attenuation is in the mesopelagic, and we highlight other VERTIGO papers that provide a more detailed examination of the particle sources, flux and processes that attenuate the flux of sinking particles. Ultimately, we contend that at least three types of processes need to be considered: heterotrophic degradation of sinking particles, zooplankton migration and surface feeding, and lateral sources of suspended and sinking materials. We have evidence that all of these processes impacted the net attenuation of particle flux vs. depth measured in VERTIGO and would therefore need to be considered and quantified in order to understand the magnitude and efficiency of the ocean’s biological pump.
-
ArticleRevisiting carbon flux through the ocean's twilight zone(American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2007-04-27) 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. ; Van Mooy, Benjamin A. S. ; Wilson, Stephanie E.
-
PreprintThorium-234 as a tracer of spatial, temporal and vertical variability in particle flux in the North Pacific( 2009-03-27) Buesseler, Ken O. ; Pike, Steven M. ; Maiti, Kanchan ; Lamborg, Carl H. ; Siegel, David A. ; Trull, Thomas W.An extensive 234Th data set was collected at two sites in the North Pacific: ALOHA, an oligotrophic site near Hawaii, and K2, a mesotrophic HNLC site in the NW Pacific as part of the VERTIGO (VERtical Transport in the Global Ocean) study. Total 234Th:238U activity ratios near 1.0 indicated low particle fluxes at ALOHA, while 234Th:238U ~0.6 in the euphotic zone at K2 indicated higher particle export. However, spatial variability was large at both sites- even greater than seasonal variability as reported in prior studies. This variability in space and time confounds the use of single profiles of 234Th for sediment trap calibration purposes. At K2, there was a decrease in export flux and increase in 234Th activities over time associated with the declining phase of a summer diatom bloom, which required the use of non-steady state models for flux predictions. This variability in space and time confounds the use of single profiles of 234Th for sediment trap calibration purposes. High vertical resolution profiles show narrow layers (20-30 m) of excess 234Th below the deep chlorophyll maximum at K2 associated with particle remineralization resulting in a decrease in flux at depth that may be missed with standard sampling for 234Th and/or with sediment traps. Also, the application of 234Th as POC flux tracer relies on accurate sampling of particulate POC/234Th ratios and here the ratio is similar on sinking particles and mid-sized particles collected by in-situ filtration (>10-50 μm at ALOHA and >5–350 μm at K2). To further address variability in particle fluxes at K2, a simple model of the drawdown of 234Th and nutrients is used to demonstrate that while coupled during export, their ratios in the water column will vary with time and depth after export. Overall these 234Th data provide a detailed view into particle flux and remineralization in the North Pacific over time and space scales that are varying over days to weeks, and 10’s to 100’s km at a resolution that is difficult to obtain with other methods.
-
ArticleGlobal assessment of ocean carbon export by combining satellite observations and food-web models(John Wiley & Sons, 2014-03-10) Siegel, David A. ; Buesseler, Ken O. ; Doney, Scott C. ; Sailley, Sevrine F. ; Behrenfeld, Michael J. ; Boyd, Philip W.The export of organic carbon from the surface ocean by sinking particles is an important, yet highly uncertain, component of the global carbon cycle. Here we introduce a mechanistic assessment of the global ocean carbon export using satellite observations, including determinations of net primary production and the slope of the particle size spectrum, to drive a food-web model that estimates the production of sinking zooplankton feces and algal aggregates comprising the sinking particle flux at the base of the euphotic zone. The synthesis of observations and models reveals fundamentally different and ecologically consistent regional-scale patterns in export and export efficiency not found in previous global carbon export assessments. The model reproduces regional-scale particle export field observations and predicts a climatological mean global carbon export from the euphotic zone of ~6 Pg C yr−1. Global export estimates show small variation (typically < 10%) to factor of 2 changes in model parameter values. The model is also robust to the choices of the satellite data products used and enables interannual changes to be quantified. The present synthesis of observations and models provides a path for quantifying the ocean's biological pump.
-
ArticleDecoupling of net community and export production on submesoscales in the Sargasso Sea(John Wiley & Sons, 2015-08-31) Estapa, Margaret L. ; Siegel, David A. ; Buesseler, Ken O. ; Stanley, Rachel H. R. ; Lomas, Michael W. ; Nelson, Norman B.Determinations of the net community production (NCP) in the upper ocean and the particle export production (EP) should balance over long time and large spatial scales. However, recent modeling studies suggest that a horizontal decoupling of flux-regulating processes on submesoscales (≤10 km) could lead to imbalances between individual determinations of NCP and EP. Here we sampled mixed-layer biogeochemical parameters and proxies for NCP and EP during 10, high-spatial resolution (~2 km) surface transects across strong physical gradients in the Sargasso Sea. We observed strong biogeochemical and carbon flux variability in nearly all transects. Spatial coherence among measured biogeochemical parameters within transects was common but rarely did the same parameters covary consistently across transects. Spatial variability was greater in parameters associated with higher trophic levels, such as chlorophyll in >5.0 µm particles, and variability in EP exceeded that of NCP in nearly all cases. Within sampling transects, coincident EP and NCP determinations were uncorrelated. However, when averaged over each transect (30 to 40 km in length), we found NCP and EP to be significantly and positively correlated (R = 0.72, p = 0.04). Transect-averaged EP determinations were slightly smaller than similar NCP values (Type-II regression slope of 0.93, standard deviation = 0.32) but not significantly different from a 1:1 relationship. The results show the importance of appropriate sampling scales when deriving carbon flux budgets from upper ocean observations.
-
ArticleHow data set characteristics influence ocean carbon export models(John Wiley & Sons, 2018-09-13) Bisson, Kelsey ; Siegel, David A. ; DeVries, Timothy ; Cael, B. Barry ; Buesseler, Ken O.Ocean biological processes mediate the transport of roughly 10 petagrams of carbon from the surface to the deep ocean each year and thus play an important role in the global carbon cycle. Even so, the globally integrated rate of carbon export out of the surface ocean remains highly uncertain. Quantifying the processes underlying this biological carbon export requires a synthesis between model predictions and available observations of particulate organic carbon (POC) flux; yet the scale dissimilarities between models and observations make this synthesis difficult. Here we compare carbon export predictions from a mechanistic model with observations of POC fluxes from several data sets compiled from the literature spanning different space, time, and depth scales as well as using different observational methodologies. We optimize model parameters to provide the best match between model‐predicted and observed POC fluxes, explicitly accounting for sources of error associated with each data set. Model‐predicted globally integrated values of POC flux at the base of the euphotic layer range from 3.8 to 5.5 Pg C/year, depending on the data set used to optimize the model. Modeled carbon export pathways also vary depending on the data set used to optimize the model, as well as the satellite net primary production data product used to drive the model. These findings highlight the importance of collecting field data that average over the substantial natural temporal and spatial variability in carbon export fluxes, and advancing satellite algorithms for ocean net primary production, in order to improve predictions of biological carbon export.
-
ArticlePrediction of the export and fate of global ocean net primary production : the EXPORTS Science Plan(Frontiers Media, 2016-03-08) Siegel, David A. ; Buesseler, Ken O. ; Behrenfeld, Michael J. ; Benitez-Nelson, Claudia R. ; Boss, Emmanuel S. ; Brzezinski, Mark A. ; Burd, Adrian B. ; Carlson, Craig A. ; D'Asaro, Eric A. ; Doney, Scott C. ; Perry, Mary J. ; Stanley, Rachel H. R. ; Steinberg, Deborah K.Ocean ecosystems play a critical role in the Earth's carbon cycle and the quantification of their impacts for both present conditions and for predictions into the future remains one of the greatest challenges in oceanography. The goal of the EXport Processes in the Ocean from Remote Sensing (EXPORTS) Science Plan is to develop a predictive understanding of the export and fate of global ocean net primary production (NPP) and its implications for present and future climates. The achievement of this goal requires a quantification of the mechanisms that control the export of carbon from the euphotic zone as well as its fate in the underlying “twilight zone” where some fraction of exported carbon will be sequestered in the ocean's interior on time scales of months to millennia. Here we present a measurement/synthesis/modeling framework aimed at quantifying the fates of upper ocean NPP and its impacts on the global carbon cycle based upon the EXPORTS Science Plan. The proposed approach will diagnose relationships among the ecological, biogeochemical, and physical oceanographic processes that control carbon cycling across a range of ecosystem and carbon cycling states leading to advances in satellite diagnostic and numerical prognostic models. To collect these data, a combination of ship and robotic field sampling, satellite remote sensing, and numerical modeling is proposed which enables the sampling of the many pathways of NPP export and fates. This coordinated, process-oriented approach has the potential to foster new insights on ocean carbon cycling that maximizes its societal relevance through the achievement of research goals of many international research agencies and will be a key step toward our understanding of the Earth as an integrated system.
-
PreprintA bottom-up view of the biological pump : modeling source funnels above ocean sediment traps( 2007-10-21) Siegel, David A. ; Fields, Erik ; Buesseler, Ken O.The sinking of particles that make up the biological pump is not vertical, but nearly horizontal. This means that the locations where the particles are formed may be distant from their collection in a sediment trap. This has led to the development of the concept of the statistical funnel to describe the spatial-temporal sampling characteristics of a sediment trap. Statistical funnels can be used to quantify the source region in the upper ocean where collected particles were created (source funnels) or the location of the collected particles during that deployment (collection funnels). Here, we characterize statistical funnels for neutrally-buoyant, surface-tethered and deep-ocean moored trap deployments conducted just north of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. Three-dimensional realizations of the synoptic velocity field, created using satellite altimeter and shipboard acoustic Doppler current profiler data, are used to advect sinking particles back to their source for sinking velocities of 50 to 200 m per day. Estimated source and collection funnel characteristics for the 5-day collections made by neutrally-buoyant and surfacetethered traps are similar with typical scales of several km to several 10’s of km. Deep moored traps have daily source funnel locations that can be many 100’s of km distant from the trap and have long-term containment radii that range from 140 to 340 km depending upon sinking rate. We assess the importance of particle source regions using satellite estimates of chlorophyll concentration as a surrogate for the spatial distribution of particle export. Our analysis points to the need to diagnose water-parcel trajectories and particle sinking rates in the interpretation of sinking particle fluxes from moored or freely-drifting sediment traps, especially for regions where there are significant horizontal gradients in the export flux.
-
Working PaperEXPORTS Measurements and Protocols for the NE Pacific Campaign(NASA STI Program and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2021-02) Behrenfeld, Michael J. ; Benitez-Nelson, Claudia R. ; Boss, Emmanuel S. ; Brzezinski, Mark A. ; Buck, Kristen N. ; Buesseler, Ken O. ; Burd, Adrian B. ; Carlson, Craig A. ; Cassar, Nicolas ; Cetinić, Ivona ; Close, Hilary G. ; Craig, Susanne E. ; D'Asaro, Eric A. ; Durkin, Colleen A. ; Estapa, Margaret L. ; Fassbender, Andrea ; Fox, James ; Freeman, Scott ; Gifford, Scott M. ; Gong, Weida ; Graff, Jason R. ; Gray, Deric ; Guidi, Lionel ; Halsey, Kim ; Hansell, Dennis A. ; Haëntjens, Nils ; Horner, Tristan J. ; Jenkins, Bethany D. ; Jones, Janice L. ; Karp-Boss, Lee ; Kramer, Sasha J. ; Lam, Phoebe J. ; Lee, Craig M. ; Lee, Jong-Mi ; Liu, Shuting ; Mannino, Antonio ; Maas, Amy E. ; Marchal, Olivier ; Marchetti, Adrian ; McDonnell, Andrew M. P. ; McNair, Heather ; Menden-Deuer, Susanne ; Morison, Francoise ; Nelson, Norman B. ; Nicholson, David P. ; Niebergall, Alexandria K. ; Omand, Melissa M. ; Passow, Uta ; Perry, Mary J. ; Popp, Brian N. ; Proctor, Chris ; Rafter, Patrick ; Roca-Martí, Montserrat ; Roesler, Collin S. ; Rubin, Edwina ; Rynearson, Tatiana A. ; Santoro, Alyson E. ; Siegel, David A. ; Sosik, Heidi M. ; Soto Ramos, Inia ; Stamieszkin, Karen ; Steinberg, Deborah K. ; Stephens, Brandon M. ; Thompson, Andrew F. ; Van Mooy, Benjamin A. S. ; Zhang, XiaodongEXport Processes in the Ocean from Remote Sensing (EXPORTS) is a large-scale NASA-led and NSF co-funded field campaign that will provide critical information for quantifying the export and fate of upper ocean net primary production (NPP) using satellite information and state of the art technology.
-
ArticleAn operational overview of the EXport Processes in the Ocean from RemoTe Sensing (EXPORTS) Northeast Pacific field deployment(University of California Press, 2021-07-07) Siegel, David A. ; Cetinić, Ivona ; Graff, Jason R. ; Lee, Craig M. ; Nelson, Norman B. ; Perry, Mary J. ; Soto Ramos, Inia ; Steinberg, Deborah K. ; Buesseler, Ken O. ; Hamme, Roberta C. ; Fassbender, Andrea ; Nicholson, David P. ; Omand, Melissa M. ; Robert, Marie ; Thompson, Andrew F. ; Amaral, Vinicius ; Behrenfeld, Michael J. ; Benitez-Nelson, Claudia R. ; Bisson, Kelsey ; Boss, Emmanuel S. ; Boyd, Philip ; Brzezinski, Mark A. ; Buck, Kristen N. ; Burd, Adrian B. ; Burns, Shannon ; Caprara, Salvatore ; Carlson, Craig A. ; Cassar, Nicolas ; Close, Hilary G. ; D'Asaro, Eric A. ; Durkin, Colleen A. ; Erickson, Zachary K. ; Estapa, Margaret L. ; Fields, Erik ; Fox, James ; Freeman, Scott ; Gifford, Scott M. ; Gong, Weida ; Gray, Deric ; Guidi, Lionel ; Haëntjens, Nils ; Halsey, Kim ; Huot, Yannick ; Hansell, Dennis A. ; Jenkins, Bethany D. ; Karp-Boss, Lee ; Kramer, Sasha J. ; Lam, Phoebe J. ; Lee, Jong-Mi ; Maas, Amy E. ; Marchal, Olivier ; Marchetti, Adrian ; McDonnell, Andrew M. P. ; McNair, Heather ; Menden-Deuer, Susanne ; Morison, Francoise ; Niebergall, Alexandria K. ; Passow, Uta ; Popp, Brian N. ; Potvin, Geneviève ; Resplandy, Laure ; Roca-Martí, Montserrat ; Roesler, Collin S. ; Rynearson, Tatiana A. ; Traylor, Shawnee ; Santoro, Alyson E. ; Seraphin, Kanesa ; Sosik, Heidi M. ; Stamieszkin, Karen ; Stephens, Brandon M. ; Tang, Weiyi ; Van Mooy, Benjamin ; Xiong, Yuanheng ; Zhang, XiaodongThe goal of the EXport Processes in the Ocean from RemoTe Sensing (EXPORTS) field campaign is to develop a predictive understanding of the export, fate, and carbon cycle impacts of global ocean net primary production. To accomplish this goal, observations of export flux pathways, plankton community composition, food web processes, and optical, physical, and biogeochemical (BGC) properties are needed over a range of ecosystem states. Here we introduce the first EXPORTS field deployment to Ocean Station Papa in the Northeast Pacific Ocean during summer of 2018, providing context for other papers in this special collection. The experiment was conducted with two ships: a Process Ship, focused on ecological rates, BGC fluxes, temporal changes in food web, and BGC and optical properties, that followed an instrumented Lagrangian float; and a Survey Ship that sampled BGC and optical properties in spatial patterns around the Process Ship. An array of autonomous underwater assets provided measurements over a range of spatial and temporal scales, and partnering programs and remote sensing observations provided additional observational context. The oceanographic setting was typical of late-summer conditions at Ocean Station Papa: a shallow mixed layer, strong vertical and weak horizontal gradients in hydrographic properties, sluggish sub-inertial currents, elevated macronutrient concentrations and low phytoplankton abundances. Although nutrient concentrations were consistent with previous observations, mixed layer chlorophyll was lower than typically observed, resulting in a deeper euphotic zone. Analyses of surface layer temperature and salinity found three distinct surface water types, allowing for diagnosis of whether observed changes were spatial or temporal. The 2018 EXPORTS field deployment is among the most comprehensive biological pump studies ever conducted. A second deployment to the North Atlantic Ocean occurred in spring 2021, which will be followed by focused work on data synthesis and modeling using the entire EXPORTS data set.