Modeling the Impact of Iron and Phosphorus Limitations on Nitrogen Fixation in the Atlantic

• Main Authors: V. J. Coles, R. R. Hood
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1973
• Subjects: Sarmiento; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.391.4785; http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/29/76/27/PDF/bg-4-455-2007.pdf

Abstract. The overarching goal of this study is to simulate subsurface N * (sensu, Gruber and Sarmiento, 1997; GS97) anomaly patterns in the North Atlantic Ocean and determine the basin wide rates of N2-fixation that are required to do so. We present results from a new Atlantic implementation of a coupled physical-biogeochemical model that includes an explicit, dynamic representation of N2-fixation with light, nitrogen, phosphorus and iron limitations, and variable stoichiometric ratios. The model is able to reproduce nitrogen, phosphorus and iron concentration variability to first order. The latter is achieved by incorporating iron deposition directly into the model’s detrital iron compartment which allows the model to reproduce sharp near surface gradients in dissolved iron concentration off the west coast of Africa and deep dissolved iron concentrations that