Stable isotope ratios in seawater nitrate reflect the influence of Pacific water along the northwest Atlantic margin

• Published in: Biogeosciences
• Main Authors: O. A. Sherwood, S. H. Davin, N. Lehmann, C. Buchwald, E. N. Edinger, M. F. Lehmann, M. Kienast
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2021
• Subjects: Ecology; QH540-549.5; Life; QH501-531; Geology; QE1-996.5; Pacific; North Atlantic; Northwest Atlantic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-4491-2021; https://doaj.org/article/2509a9a1fbb043078d4d4f03bf5a599b

The flow of Pacific water to the North Atlantic exerts a globally significant control on nutrient balances between the two ocean basins and strongly influences biological productivity in the northwest Atlantic. Nutrient ratios of nitrate (NO <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M1" display="inline" overflow="scroll" dspmath="mathml"><mrow><msubsup><mi/><mn mathvariant="normal">3</mn><mo>-</mo></msubsup></mrow></math> <svg:svg xmlns:svg="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="9pt" height="16pt" class="svg-formula" dspmath="mathimg" md5hash="5c4cefaf8b78d41c1ce2f2ef151f712f"><svg:image xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="bg-18-4491-2021-ie00001.svg" width="9pt" height="16pt" src="bg-18-4491-2021-ie00001.png"/></svg:svg> ) versus phosphate (PO <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M2" display="inline" overflow="scroll" dspmath="mathml"><mrow><msubsup><mi/><mn mathvariant="normal">4</mn><mrow><mn mathvariant="normal">3</mn><mo>-</mo></mrow></msubsup></mrow></math> <svg:svg xmlns:svg="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="13pt" height="17pt" class="svg-formula" dspmath="mathimg" md5hash="2a55aaddcd6f6e19827895ad406d0cde"><svg:image xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="bg-18-4491-2021-ie00002.svg" width="13pt" height="17pt" src="bg-18-4491-2021-ie00002.png"/></svg:svg> ) have previously been used to complement salinity characteristics in tracing the distribution of Pacific water in the North Atlantic. We expand on this premise and demonstrate that the fraction of Pacific water as determined by NO <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M3" display="inline" overflow="scroll" dspmath="mathml"><mrow><msubsup><mi/><mn mathvariant="normal">3</mn><mo>-</mo></msubsup></mrow></math> <svg:svg ...