Carbon sequestration in the deep Atlantic enhanced by Saharan dust
Enhanced atmospheric input of dust-borne nutrients and minerals to the remote surface ocean can potentially increase carbon uptake and sequestration at depth. Nutrients can enhance primary productivity, and mineral particles act as ballast, increasing sinking rates of particulate organic matter. Her...
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Online Access: | https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/406410/ https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/406410/1/Pabortsava_et_al_2017.pdf |
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ftsouthampton:oai:eprints.soton.ac.uk:406410 2023-07-30T04:05:13+02:00 Carbon sequestration in the deep Atlantic enhanced by Saharan dust Pabortsava, Katsiaryna Lampitt, Richard S. Benson, Jeff Crowe, Christian McLachlan, Robert Le Moigne, Frederick A.C. Moore, C. Mark Pebody, Corinne Provost, Paul Rees, Andrew Tilstone, Gavin Woodward, E. Malcolm S. 2017-02-27 text https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/406410/ https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/406410/1/Pabortsava_et_al_2017.pdf en English eng https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/406410/1/Pabortsava_et_al_2017.pdf Pabortsava, Katsiaryna, Lampitt, Richard S., Benson, Jeff, Crowe, Christian, McLachlan, Robert, Le Moigne, Frederick A.C., Moore, C. Mark, Pebody, Corinne, Provost, Paul, Rees, Andrew, Tilstone, Gavin and Woodward, E. Malcolm S. (2017) Carbon sequestration in the deep Atlantic enhanced by Saharan dust. Nature Geoscience, 10 (3), 189–194. (doi:10.1038/ngeo2899 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2899>). Article PeerReviewed 2017 ftsouthampton https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2899 2023-07-09T22:13:36Z Enhanced atmospheric input of dust-borne nutrients and minerals to the remote surface ocean can potentially increase carbon uptake and sequestration at depth. Nutrients can enhance primary productivity, and mineral particles act as ballast, increasing sinking rates of particulate organic matter. Here we present a two-year time series of sediment trap observations of particulate organic carbon flux to 3,000 m depth, measured directly in two locations: the dust-rich central North Atlantic gyre and the dust-poor South Atlantic gyre. We find that carbon fluxes are twice as high and a higher proportion of primary production is exported to depth in the dust-rich North Atlantic gyre. Low stable nitrogen isotope ratios suggest that high fluxes result from the stimulation of nitrogen fixation and productivity following the deposition of dust-borne nutrients. Sediment traps in the northern gyre also collected intact colonies of nitrogen-fixing Trichodesmium species. Whereas ballast in the southern gyre is predominantly biogenic, dust-derived mineral particles constitute the dominant ballast element during the enhanced carbon fluxes in the northern gyre. We conclude that dust deposition increases carbon sequestration in the North Atlantic gyre through the fertilization of the nitrogen-fixing community in surface waters and mineral ballasting of sinking particles. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic University of Southampton: e-Prints Soton Nature Geoscience 10 3 189 194 |
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University of Southampton: e-Prints Soton |
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ftsouthampton |
language |
English |
description |
Enhanced atmospheric input of dust-borne nutrients and minerals to the remote surface ocean can potentially increase carbon uptake and sequestration at depth. Nutrients can enhance primary productivity, and mineral particles act as ballast, increasing sinking rates of particulate organic matter. Here we present a two-year time series of sediment trap observations of particulate organic carbon flux to 3,000 m depth, measured directly in two locations: the dust-rich central North Atlantic gyre and the dust-poor South Atlantic gyre. We find that carbon fluxes are twice as high and a higher proportion of primary production is exported to depth in the dust-rich North Atlantic gyre. Low stable nitrogen isotope ratios suggest that high fluxes result from the stimulation of nitrogen fixation and productivity following the deposition of dust-borne nutrients. Sediment traps in the northern gyre also collected intact colonies of nitrogen-fixing Trichodesmium species. Whereas ballast in the southern gyre is predominantly biogenic, dust-derived mineral particles constitute the dominant ballast element during the enhanced carbon fluxes in the northern gyre. We conclude that dust deposition increases carbon sequestration in the North Atlantic gyre through the fertilization of the nitrogen-fixing community in surface waters and mineral ballasting of sinking particles. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Pabortsava, Katsiaryna Lampitt, Richard S. Benson, Jeff Crowe, Christian McLachlan, Robert Le Moigne, Frederick A.C. Moore, C. Mark Pebody, Corinne Provost, Paul Rees, Andrew Tilstone, Gavin Woodward, E. Malcolm S. |
spellingShingle |
Pabortsava, Katsiaryna Lampitt, Richard S. Benson, Jeff Crowe, Christian McLachlan, Robert Le Moigne, Frederick A.C. Moore, C. Mark Pebody, Corinne Provost, Paul Rees, Andrew Tilstone, Gavin Woodward, E. Malcolm S. Carbon sequestration in the deep Atlantic enhanced by Saharan dust |
author_facet |
Pabortsava, Katsiaryna Lampitt, Richard S. Benson, Jeff Crowe, Christian McLachlan, Robert Le Moigne, Frederick A.C. Moore, C. Mark Pebody, Corinne Provost, Paul Rees, Andrew Tilstone, Gavin Woodward, E. Malcolm S. |
author_sort |
Pabortsava, Katsiaryna |
title |
Carbon sequestration in the deep Atlantic enhanced by Saharan dust |
title_short |
Carbon sequestration in the deep Atlantic enhanced by Saharan dust |
title_full |
Carbon sequestration in the deep Atlantic enhanced by Saharan dust |
title_fullStr |
Carbon sequestration in the deep Atlantic enhanced by Saharan dust |
title_full_unstemmed |
Carbon sequestration in the deep Atlantic enhanced by Saharan dust |
title_sort |
carbon sequestration in the deep atlantic enhanced by saharan dust |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/406410/ https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/406410/1/Pabortsava_et_al_2017.pdf |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_relation |
https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/406410/1/Pabortsava_et_al_2017.pdf Pabortsava, Katsiaryna, Lampitt, Richard S., Benson, Jeff, Crowe, Christian, McLachlan, Robert, Le Moigne, Frederick A.C., Moore, C. Mark, Pebody, Corinne, Provost, Paul, Rees, Andrew, Tilstone, Gavin and Woodward, E. Malcolm S. (2017) Carbon sequestration in the deep Atlantic enhanced by Saharan dust. Nature Geoscience, 10 (3), 189–194. (doi:10.1038/ngeo2899 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2899>). |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2899 |
container_title |
Nature Geoscience |
container_volume |
10 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
189 |
op_container_end_page |
194 |
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1772817002855923712 |