Fluxes of carbon and nutrients to the Iceland Sea surface layer and inferred primary productivity and stoichiometry

• Published in: Biogeosciences
• Main Authors: E. Jeansson, R. G. J. Bellerby, I. Skjelvan, H. Frigstad, S. R. Ólafsdóttir, J. Olafsson
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2015
• Subjects: Ecology; QH540-549.5; Life; QH501-531; Geology; QE1-996.5; Iceland
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-875-2015; https://doaj.org/article/32f945d38ce14fa79ba6f9199069f9b8

This study evaluates long-term mean fluxes of carbon and nutrients to the upper 100 m of the Iceland Sea. The study utilises hydro-chemical data from the Iceland Sea time series station (68.00° N, 12.67° W), for the years between 1993 and 2006. By comparing data of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and nutrients in the surface layer (upper 100 m), and a sub-surface layer (100–200 m), we calculate monthly deficits in the surface, and use these to deduce the long-term mean surface layer fluxes that affect the deficits: vertical mixing, horizontal advection, air–sea exchange, and biological activity. The deficits show a clear seasonality with a minimum in winter, when the mixed layer is at the deepest, and a maximum in early autumn, when biological uptake has removed much of the nutrients. The annual vertical fluxes of DIC and nitrate amounts to 2.9 ± 0.5 and 0.45 ± 0.09 mol m −2 yr −1 , respectively, and the annual air–sea uptake of atmospheric CO 2 is 4.4 ± 1.1 mol C m −2 yr −1 . The biologically driven changes in DIC during the year relates to net community production (NCP), and the net annual NCP corresponds to export production, and is here calculated as 7.3 ± 1.0 mol C m −2 yr −1 . The typical, median C : N ratio during the period of net community uptake is 9.0, and clearly higher than the Redfield ratio, but is varying during the season.