| Summary: | Biogeochemistry refers to the cycling of chemical elements through living systems and their environments by physical, chemical, biological and geological processes. The biogeochemical cycles of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and some essential trace elements such as iron have strong implications in the Antarctic Ocean for the functioning of the marine ecosystem at regional and global scales and for the exchange of gases between the sea and the atmosphere. This communication describes the role of the Southern Ocean in the Earth’s climate system, with regards to the Ross Sea, and the existing knowledge on the biogeochemical cycles of carbon and iron, the key factors that regulate their distribution, and their possible variations in response to future climate change.
|
|---|