Size‐fractionated iron distributions and iron‐limitation processes in the subarctic NW Pacific

Abstract

Comparison of vertical profiles of size‐fractionated iron between the western and eastern subarctic North Pacific clearly showed higher labile particulate iron concentrations towards the west and this result strongly supports the higher iron supply in the western region. Additionally, the results of the SEEDS experiment, the first meso‐scale iron enrichment experiment in the subarctic North Pacific, clearly showed that artificially enriched iron in the dissolved fraction (mainly in colloidal fraction) was rapidly transformed to suspended labile particulate iron during phytoplankton growth and was retained in the surface mixed layer. Probably, this same rapid transformation process occurs naturally after sporadic atmospheric iron supply and the labile particulate iron is retained in the western region. Furthermore, this transformation process reduces dissolved concentration of iron and its bioavailability. Therefore, the transformation process is important for understanding how phytoplankton became iron limited and the biogeochemical iron cycle in the western subarctic North Pacific.