Abstract
The North Atlantic Biological Pump: Insights from the Ocean Observatories Initiative Irminger Sea Array
Highlights
Export of biologically fixed organic carbon from the surface to the deep ocean, known as the biological pump, plays an important role in the global carbon cycle (Volk and Hoffert, 1985)
The biological pump plays a key role in the global carbon cycle by transporting photosynthetically fixed organic carbon into the deep ocean, where it can be sequestered from the atmosphere over annual or longer time scales if exported below the winter ventilation depth
A fraction of this fixed organic carbon escapes being respired by organisms in the surface ocean and is transferred as sinking particles, by mixing of dissolved and suspended organic matter, and by vertical animal migration to the ocean interior, where it is sequestered from the atmosphere on time scales of months to centuries (Volk and Hoffert, 1985; DeVries et al, 2012)
Summary
Export of biologically fixed organic carbon from the surface to the deep ocean, known as the biological pump, plays an important role in the global carbon cycle (Volk and Hoffert, 1985). Year-round sampling of the biological pump is especially critical in highlatitude regions because a large fraction of the carbon exported seasonally during the spring and summer can be brought back to the surface and ventilated during deep winter mixing.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
