The Distribution of Particulate Organic Carbon and Its Dynamics In the Southern Ross Sea

• Main Authors: Asper, Vernon, Smith, Walker O.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: The Aquila Digital Community 2003
• Subjects: biogeochemistry; antarctica; ross sea; Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology; Physical Sciences and Mathematics; Austral; Ross Sea; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://aquila.usm.edu/fac_pubs/17121; https://doi.org/10.1029/078ARS15

Particulate organic carbon (POC) was sampled during five repetitions of a transect along a 76°30′S in the Ross Sea, Antarctica during 1994 and 1995–1996. These data show an increase in POC during the Austral spring bloom, maximum concentrations (50 μm) in summer, and a rapid decline during late summer. The highest concentrations were generally found on the western end of the transect, an area generally dominated by diatoms. Changes in POC concentrations in discrete layers in the upper water column can be used in combination with other data (production and vertical transport into and out of the layer) to estimate the rate of respiration in each layer. From these calculations, community respiration appears to be low in the spring, but increases in the summer, representing 60% of total production during this period