Reconciliation of the carbon budget in the ocean’s twilight zone
International audience Photosynthesis in the surface ocean produces approximately 100 gigatonnes of organic carbon per year, of which 5 to 15 per cent is exported to the deep ocean. The rate at which the sinking carbon is converted into carbon dioxide by heterotrophic organisms at depth is important...
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Online Access: | https://hal.science/hal-01077017 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13123 |
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ftinsu:oai:HAL:hal-01077017v1 2023-12-31T10:20:47+01:00 Reconciliation of the carbon budget in the ocean’s twilight zone Giering, Sarah L. C. Sanders, Richard Lampitt, Richard S. Anderson, Thomas R. Tamburini, Christian Boutrif, Mehdi Zubkov, Mikhail V. Marsay, Chris M. Henson, Stephanie A. Saw, Kevin Cook, Kathryn Mayor, Daniel J. National Oceanography Centre (NOC) University of Southampton Institut méditerranéen d'océanologie (MIO) Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Toulon (UTLN)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Marine Scotland Science ANR-05-BLAN-0161,POTES,Pressure effects On marine prokaryoTES(2005) European Project: 202955,EC:FP7:ENV,FP7-ENV-2007-1,EUROSITES(2008) 2014 https://hal.science/hal-01077017 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13123 en eng HAL CCSD Nature Publishing Group info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1038/nature13123 info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/202955/EU/Integration and enhancement of key existing European deep-ocean observatories/EUROSITES hal-01077017 https://hal.science/hal-01077017 doi:10.1038/nature13123 ISSN: 0028-0836 EISSN: 1476-4687 Nature https://hal.science/hal-01077017 Nature, 2014, 507 (7493), pp.480-483. ⟨10.1038/nature13123⟩ [SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal articles 2014 ftinsu https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13123 2023-12-06T17:27:38Z International audience Photosynthesis in the surface ocean produces approximately 100 gigatonnes of organic carbon per year, of which 5 to 15 per cent is exported to the deep ocean. The rate at which the sinking carbon is converted into carbon dioxide by heterotrophic organisms at depth is important in controlling oceanic carbon storage. It remains uncertain, however, to what extent surface ocean carbon supply meets the demand of water-column biota; the discrepancy between known carbon sources and sinks is as much as two orders of magnitude. Here we present field measurements, respiration rate estimates and a steady-state model that allow us to balance carbon sources and sinks to within observational uncertainties at the Porcupine Abyssal Plain site in the eastern North Atlantic Ocean. We find that prokaryotes are responsible for 70 to 92 per cent of the estimated remineralization in the twilight zone (depths of 50 to 1,000 metres) despite the fact that much of the organic carbon is exported in the form of large, fast-sinking particles accessible to larger zooplankton. We suggest that this occurs because zooplankton fragment and ingest half of the fast-sinking particles, of which more than 30 per cent may be released as suspended and slowly sinking matter, stimulating the deep-ocean microbial loop. The synergy between microbes and zooplankton in the twilight zone is important to our understanding of the processes controlling the oceanic carbon sink. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Institut national des sciences de l'Univers: HAL-INSU Nature 507 7493 480 483 |
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Open Polar |
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Institut national des sciences de l'Univers: HAL-INSU |
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ftinsu |
language |
English |
topic |
[SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography |
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[SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography Giering, Sarah L. C. Sanders, Richard Lampitt, Richard S. Anderson, Thomas R. Tamburini, Christian Boutrif, Mehdi Zubkov, Mikhail V. Marsay, Chris M. Henson, Stephanie A. Saw, Kevin Cook, Kathryn Mayor, Daniel J. Reconciliation of the carbon budget in the ocean’s twilight zone |
topic_facet |
[SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography |
description |
International audience Photosynthesis in the surface ocean produces approximately 100 gigatonnes of organic carbon per year, of which 5 to 15 per cent is exported to the deep ocean. The rate at which the sinking carbon is converted into carbon dioxide by heterotrophic organisms at depth is important in controlling oceanic carbon storage. It remains uncertain, however, to what extent surface ocean carbon supply meets the demand of water-column biota; the discrepancy between known carbon sources and sinks is as much as two orders of magnitude. Here we present field measurements, respiration rate estimates and a steady-state model that allow us to balance carbon sources and sinks to within observational uncertainties at the Porcupine Abyssal Plain site in the eastern North Atlantic Ocean. We find that prokaryotes are responsible for 70 to 92 per cent of the estimated remineralization in the twilight zone (depths of 50 to 1,000 metres) despite the fact that much of the organic carbon is exported in the form of large, fast-sinking particles accessible to larger zooplankton. We suggest that this occurs because zooplankton fragment and ingest half of the fast-sinking particles, of which more than 30 per cent may be released as suspended and slowly sinking matter, stimulating the deep-ocean microbial loop. The synergy between microbes and zooplankton in the twilight zone is important to our understanding of the processes controlling the oceanic carbon sink. |
author2 |
National Oceanography Centre (NOC) University of Southampton Institut méditerranéen d'océanologie (MIO) Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Toulon (UTLN)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Marine Scotland Science ANR-05-BLAN-0161,POTES,Pressure effects On marine prokaryoTES(2005) European Project: 202955,EC:FP7:ENV,FP7-ENV-2007-1,EUROSITES(2008) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Giering, Sarah L. C. Sanders, Richard Lampitt, Richard S. Anderson, Thomas R. Tamburini, Christian Boutrif, Mehdi Zubkov, Mikhail V. Marsay, Chris M. Henson, Stephanie A. Saw, Kevin Cook, Kathryn Mayor, Daniel J. |
author_facet |
Giering, Sarah L. C. Sanders, Richard Lampitt, Richard S. Anderson, Thomas R. Tamburini, Christian Boutrif, Mehdi Zubkov, Mikhail V. Marsay, Chris M. Henson, Stephanie A. Saw, Kevin Cook, Kathryn Mayor, Daniel J. |
author_sort |
Giering, Sarah L. C. |
title |
Reconciliation of the carbon budget in the ocean’s twilight zone |
title_short |
Reconciliation of the carbon budget in the ocean’s twilight zone |
title_full |
Reconciliation of the carbon budget in the ocean’s twilight zone |
title_fullStr |
Reconciliation of the carbon budget in the ocean’s twilight zone |
title_full_unstemmed |
Reconciliation of the carbon budget in the ocean’s twilight zone |
title_sort |
reconciliation of the carbon budget in the ocean’s twilight zone |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://hal.science/hal-01077017 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13123 |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_source |
ISSN: 0028-0836 EISSN: 1476-4687 Nature https://hal.science/hal-01077017 Nature, 2014, 507 (7493), pp.480-483. ⟨10.1038/nature13123⟩ |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1038/nature13123 info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/202955/EU/Integration and enhancement of key existing European deep-ocean observatories/EUROSITES hal-01077017 https://hal.science/hal-01077017 doi:10.1038/nature13123 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13123 |
container_title |
Nature |
container_volume |
507 |
container_issue |
7493 |
container_start_page |
480 |
op_container_end_page |
483 |
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1786831331987030016 |