ORGANIC PHOSPHORUS IN THE DEEP WATER OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC?

• Main Authors: David A. Mcgill, Nathaniel Corwin, Bostwick H. Ketchum, Woods Hole
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: North Atlantic; Subarctic
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.525.5414; http://www.aslo.org/lo/toc/vol_9/issue_1/0027.pdf

Differcnccs in the concentrations of inorganic phosphate and of total phosphorus in sca-water are interprctcd as representing the prescncc of organically bound phosphorus. This fraction is ncgligiblc in most of the deep water of the North Atlantic but was present in sub-stantial amounts in the western end of a section at 40 ” N lat sampled during the Intcrna-tional Geophysical Year program in October 1957. Rcpcatcd observations in a section bctwecn Woods Hole and Bermuda and at a station south of Bermuda during the period 1958-61 have demonstrated variations in organic phosphorus in deep water which follow approximately a seasonal cycle and which appear to bc related to variations in salinity. During 1959, when the salinity of the water was most nearly constant, the organic phos-phorus disappeared from the deep water at a rate of approximately 0.1 pg-at./ ( liter x year), which is considered an uncorrected cstimatc of decomposition in situ. Possible sources of the organic phosphorus in the deep water arc discussed. The most probable source appears to be in the low-salinity subarctic intermediate water.