Reconciliation of the carbon budget in the ocean’s twilight zone
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 ocean1, 2. The rate at which the sinking carbon is converted into carbon dioxide by heterotrophic organisms at depth is important in controlling oce...
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Online Access: | http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/506483/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/506483/1/Giering%20Manuscrip%26extended%20figs.pdf |
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ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:506483 2023-05-15T17:34:29+02:00 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. 2014-03-27 text http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/506483/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/506483/1/Giering%20Manuscrip%26extended%20figs.pdf en eng https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/506483/1/Giering%20Manuscrip%26extended%20figs.pdf Giering, Sarah L.C. orcid:0000-0002-3090-1876 Sanders, Richard orcid:0000-0002-6884-7131 Lampitt, Richard S.; Anderson, Thomas R. orcid:0000-0002-7408-1566 Tamburini, Christian; Boutrif, Mehdi; Zubkov, Mikhail V.; Marsay, Chris M.; Henson, Stephanie A. orcid:0000-0002-3875-6802 Saw, Kevin; Cook, Kathryn; Mayor, Daniel J. orcid:0000-0002-1295-0041 . 2014 Reconciliation of the carbon budget in the ocean’s twilight zone. Nature, 507. 480-483. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13123 <https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13123> Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2014 ftnerc https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13123 2023-02-04T19:39:19Z 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 ocean1, 2. The rate at which the sinking carbon is converted into carbon dioxide by heterotrophic organisms at depth is important in controlling oceanic carbon storage3. 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 magnitude4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 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 Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive Nature 507 7493 480 483 |
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Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive |
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ftnerc |
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English |
description |
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 ocean1, 2. The rate at which the sinking carbon is converted into carbon dioxide by heterotrophic organisms at depth is important in controlling oceanic carbon storage3. 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 magnitude4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 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. |
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. |
spellingShingle |
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 |
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 |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/506483/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/506483/1/Giering%20Manuscrip%26extended%20figs.pdf |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_relation |
https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/506483/1/Giering%20Manuscrip%26extended%20figs.pdf Giering, Sarah L.C. orcid:0000-0002-3090-1876 Sanders, Richard orcid:0000-0002-6884-7131 Lampitt, Richard S.; Anderson, Thomas R. orcid:0000-0002-7408-1566 Tamburini, Christian; Boutrif, Mehdi; Zubkov, Mikhail V.; Marsay, Chris M.; Henson, Stephanie A. orcid:0000-0002-3875-6802 Saw, Kevin; Cook, Kathryn; Mayor, Daniel J. orcid:0000-0002-1295-0041 . 2014 Reconciliation of the carbon budget in the ocean’s twilight zone. Nature, 507. 480-483. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13123 <https://doi.org/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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1766133327356493824 |