The continental margin is a key source of iron to the HNLC North Pacific Ocean

Here we show that labile particulate iron and manganese concentrations in the upper 500m of the Western Subarctic Pacific, an iron-limited High Nutrient Low Chlorophyll (HNLC) region, have prominent subsurface maxima between 100-200 m, reaching 3 nM and 600 pM, respectively. The subsurface concentra...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical Research Letters
Main Authors: Lam, P.J., Bishop, J.K.B
Language:unknown
Published: 2016
Subjects:
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
58 GEOSCIENCES
ADVECTION
AVAILABILITY
CHLOROPHYLL
CONTINENTAL MARGIN
CONTINENTAL SHELF
CONTINENTAL SLOPE
IRON
MANGANESE
NUTRIENTS
PACIFIC OCEAN
PARTICULATES
UPWELLING
VALENCE
Pacific
Kamchatka
Subarctic
Online Access:http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/937575
https://www.osti.gov/biblio/937575
https://doi.org/10.1029/2008GL033294
Description
Summary:Here we show that labile particulate iron and manganese concentrations in the upper 500m of the Western Subarctic Pacific, an iron-limited High Nutrient Low Chlorophyll (HNLC) region, have prominent subsurface maxima between 100-200 m, reaching 3 nM and 600 pM, respectively. The subsurface concentration maxima in particulate Fe are characterized by a more reduced oxidation state, suggesting a source from primary volcagenic minerals such as from the Kuril/Kamchatka margin. The systematics of these profiles suggest a consistently strong lateral advection of labile Mn and Fe from redox-mobilized labile sources at the continental shelf supplemented by a more variable source of Fe from the upper continental slope. This subsurface supply of iron from the continental margin is shallow enough to be accessible to the surface through winter upwelling and vertical mixing, and is likely a key source of bioavailable Fe to the HNLC North Pacific.

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