O<SUB>2</SUB> and CO<SUB>2</SUB> balances approach for estimating biological production in the mixed layer of the tropical Atlantic Ocean (Guinea Dome area)

Abstract

The rates at which concentrations of oxygen and carbon dioxide change under the influence of the exchange with the atmosphere and biological production are derived from in situ measurements of O, and CO, in the mixed layer over a 10-day period in the Guinea Dome area. The rates of O, production (10.3 mmol m-' d-I) and CO, consumption (13.0-mmol m-* d-I) by photosynthetic activity exceed the evasion of O2 and CO, into the atmosphere (respectively 2.4 and 1.2 mmol m-, d-I). The net apparent production of O, from day to day is only 11% of the diurnal O, increase. The biological production of oxygen at a short distance from the center of , the Guinea Dome appears to be higher than that in the exact center. i