Trajectories of sinking particles and the catchment areas above sediment traps in the northeast Atlantic
A Lagrangian analysis of particles sinking through a velocity field observed by Eulerian frame measurements was used to evaluate the effects of horizontal advection and particle sinking speed on particle fluxes as measured by moored sediment traps. Characteristics of the statistical funnel above moo...
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2000
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ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:108013 2023-05-15T17:41:19+02:00 Trajectories of sinking particles and the catchment areas above sediment traps in the northeast Atlantic Waniek, J. Koeve, W. Prien, R.D. 2000 http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/108013/ http://hermia.ingentaselect.com/vl=6505216/cl=63/nw=1/rpsv/cw/jmr/00222402/v58n6/s6/p983 https://doi.org/10.1357/002224000763485773 unknown Waniek, J.; Koeve, W.; Prien, R.D. 2000 Trajectories of sinking particles and the catchment areas above sediment traps in the northeast Atlantic. Journal of Marine Research, 58 (6). 983-1006. https://doi.org/10.1357/002224000763485773 <https://doi.org/10.1357/002224000763485773> Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2000 ftnerc https://doi.org/10.1357/002224000763485773 2023-02-04T19:33:45Z A Lagrangian analysis of particles sinking through a velocity field observed by Eulerian frame measurements was used to evaluate the effects of horizontal advection and particle sinking speed on particle fluxes as measured by moored sediment traps. Characteristics of the statistical funnel above moored deep-ocean sediment traps at the German JGOFS quasi-time series station at 47N, 20W (Biotrans site) were determined. The analysis suggests that the distance and direction between a given sediment trap and the region at the surface where the particles were produced depends on the mean sinking velocity of the particles, the horizontal velocity field above the trap and the deployment depth of the trap. Traps moored at different depths at a given mooring site can collect particles originating from different, separated regions at the surface ocean. Catchment areas for a given trap vary between different years. Typical distances between catchment areas of traps from different water depth but for a given time period (e.g., the spring season) are similar or even larger compared to typical length scales of mesoscale variability of phytoplankton biomass observed in the temperate northeast Atlantic. This implies that particles sampled at a certain time at different depth horizons may originate from completely independent epipelagic systems. Furthermore catchment areas move with time according to changes in the horizontal flow field which jeopardizes the common treatment of interpreting a series of particle flux measurements as a simple time series. The results presented in this work demonstrate that the knowledge of the temporal and spatial variability of the velocity field above deep-ocean sediment traps is of great importance to the interpretation of particle flux measurements. Therefore, the one-dimensional interpretation of particle flux observations should be taken with care. Article in Journal/Newspaper Northeast Atlantic Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive Journal of Marine Research 58 6 983 1006 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftnerc |
language |
unknown |
description |
A Lagrangian analysis of particles sinking through a velocity field observed by Eulerian frame measurements was used to evaluate the effects of horizontal advection and particle sinking speed on particle fluxes as measured by moored sediment traps. Characteristics of the statistical funnel above moored deep-ocean sediment traps at the German JGOFS quasi-time series station at 47N, 20W (Biotrans site) were determined. The analysis suggests that the distance and direction between a given sediment trap and the region at the surface where the particles were produced depends on the mean sinking velocity of the particles, the horizontal velocity field above the trap and the deployment depth of the trap. Traps moored at different depths at a given mooring site can collect particles originating from different, separated regions at the surface ocean. Catchment areas for a given trap vary between different years. Typical distances between catchment areas of traps from different water depth but for a given time period (e.g., the spring season) are similar or even larger compared to typical length scales of mesoscale variability of phytoplankton biomass observed in the temperate northeast Atlantic. This implies that particles sampled at a certain time at different depth horizons may originate from completely independent epipelagic systems. Furthermore catchment areas move with time according to changes in the horizontal flow field which jeopardizes the common treatment of interpreting a series of particle flux measurements as a simple time series. The results presented in this work demonstrate that the knowledge of the temporal and spatial variability of the velocity field above deep-ocean sediment traps is of great importance to the interpretation of particle flux measurements. Therefore, the one-dimensional interpretation of particle flux observations should be taken with care. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Waniek, J. Koeve, W. Prien, R.D. |
spellingShingle |
Waniek, J. Koeve, W. Prien, R.D. Trajectories of sinking particles and the catchment areas above sediment traps in the northeast Atlantic |
author_facet |
Waniek, J. Koeve, W. Prien, R.D. |
author_sort |
Waniek, J. |
title |
Trajectories of sinking particles and the catchment areas above sediment traps in the northeast Atlantic |
title_short |
Trajectories of sinking particles and the catchment areas above sediment traps in the northeast Atlantic |
title_full |
Trajectories of sinking particles and the catchment areas above sediment traps in the northeast Atlantic |
title_fullStr |
Trajectories of sinking particles and the catchment areas above sediment traps in the northeast Atlantic |
title_full_unstemmed |
Trajectories of sinking particles and the catchment areas above sediment traps in the northeast Atlantic |
title_sort |
trajectories of sinking particles and the catchment areas above sediment traps in the northeast atlantic |
publishDate |
2000 |
url |
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/108013/ http://hermia.ingentaselect.com/vl=6505216/cl=63/nw=1/rpsv/cw/jmr/00222402/v58n6/s6/p983 https://doi.org/10.1357/002224000763485773 |
genre |
Northeast Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Northeast Atlantic |
op_relation |
Waniek, J.; Koeve, W.; Prien, R.D. 2000 Trajectories of sinking particles and the catchment areas above sediment traps in the northeast Atlantic. Journal of Marine Research, 58 (6). 983-1006. https://doi.org/10.1357/002224000763485773 <https://doi.org/10.1357/002224000763485773> |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1357/002224000763485773 |
container_title |
Journal of Marine Research |
container_volume |
58 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
983 |
op_container_end_page |
1006 |
_version_ |
1766142803029524480 |