Evaluating the importance of atmospheric and sedimentary iron sources to Southern Ocean biogeochemistry.

International audience The predominant iron sources to the Southern Ocean (SO) are atmospheric deposition and sediment supply from the continental margin and their relative importance in governing SO carbon export remains a subject of great debate. Here we report the results of simulations conducted...

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Published in:Geophysical Research Letters
Main Authors: Tagliabue, Alessandro, Bopp, Laurent, Aumont, Olivier
Other Authors: Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement Gif-sur-Yvette (LSCE), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) (DRF (CEA)), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA), Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire de physique des océans (LPO), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: HAL CCSD 2009
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hal.science/hal-00413596
https://hal.science/hal-00413596/document
https://hal.science/hal-00413596/file/2009GL038914.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1029/2009GL038914
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Summary:International audience The predominant iron sources to the Southern Ocean (SO) are atmospheric deposition and sediment supply from the continental margin and their relative importance in governing SO carbon export remains a subject of great debate. Here we report the results of simulations conducted with an ocean general circulation and biogeochemistry model (OGCBM) to quantify the importance of each source at different spatial scales at quasi-equilibrium. Overall, we find sediment derived iron is more important than dust derived iron in sustaining SO export production (by 1.4 to 9 times). Although dust iron is important in certain geographic sectors of the SO, this largely depends on the dust model employed. Apparent geographical correlations between dust deposition and export production can be misleading, since sediment iron can be transported to similar regions. Future generation OGCBMs must better represent spatial variability in deposition fluxes and iron solubility from dust, as well as the poorly constrained, yet regionally important, sediment source.