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Journal ArticleDOI

Biogenic particle fluxes in the equatorial Pacific: Evidence for both high and low productivity during the 1982‐1983 El Niño

Jack Dymond, +1 more
- 01 Jun 1988 - 
- Vol. 2, Iss: 2, pp 129-137
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TLDR
Sediment traps deployed at two sites in the equatorial Pacific during and following the 1982-1983 El Nino southern oscillation demonstrate the biological effects of this event as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract
Sediment traps deployed at two sites in the equatorial Pacific during and following the 1982-1983 El Nino southern oscillation (ENSO) demonstrate the biological effects of this event. Biogenic particle fluxes for a site 1° north of the equator were at least a factor of 2 lower during a 3 month period of intense ENSO influence compared to fluxes recorded at any other time during a 28-month period beginning in December 1982. These low particle fluxes reflect the expected decrease in primary production in response to the ENSO event. Surprisingly, the biogenic particle fluxes measured at the second site, 11°N, were anomalously high during this same ENSO-affected period. The apparent increase in productivity north of the equator seems to be a consequence of enhanced flow of the North Equatorial Countercurrent (NECC) and the associated doming of the shallow thermocline. The observed temporal variability in magnitude of the biogenic particle flux was accompanied by compositional changes in the biogenic components. The period of high carbon flux at the 11°N site was a time of exceptional opal flux, while the particle flux during the period of low carbon flux observed at 1°N during the ENSO was depleted in opal. These patterns appear to reflect the dominance of diatom productivity relative to coccolithophorid productivity during conditions of greater nutrient availability.

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Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI

Barium in Deep-Sea Sediment: A Geochemical Proxy for Paleoproductivity

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used sediment traps to define the particulate fluxes of barium and organic carbon and investigate the use of Barium as a proxy for ocean fertility.
Journal ArticleDOI

Production and accumulation of calcium carbonate in the ocean: Budget of a nonsteady state

TL;DR: In this article, it was shown that the oceans are not presently in a steady state, suggesting that outputs have been overestimated or inputs underestimated, that one or more other inputs have not been identified, and/or that one of the missing calcium sources might be groundwater, although its presentday input is probably much smaller than that of rivers.
Journal ArticleDOI

Association of sinking organic matter with various types of mineral ballast in the deep sea: Implications for the rain ratio

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors show that most of the organic carbon rain in the deep sea is carried by calcium carbonate, because it is denser than opal and more abundant than terrigenous material.
Journal ArticleDOI

Particulate organic carbon fluxes to the ocean interior and factors controlling the biological pump: A synthesis of global sediment trap programs since 1983

TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the geographic contrasts of POC export at m/b and the supply rate of ∑CO2 to the world mesopelagic water column.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI

Uptake of new and regenerated forms of nitrogen in primary productivity1

TL;DR: The role of zooplankton in regenerating nitrogen as ammonia in the Sargasso Sea is examined theoretically in this article, showing that only about 10% of the daily ammonia uptake by phytoplanton living in the upper 100 m.
Journal ArticleDOI

Particulate organic matter flux and planktonic new production in the deep ocean

TL;DR: The primary production in the oceans results from allochthonous nutrient inputs to the euphotic zone (new production) and from nutrient recycling in the surface waters (regenerated production) as discussed by the authors.
Journal Article

Life-forms of phytoplankton as survival alternatives in an unstable environment

Ramón Margalef
- 01 Jan 1978 - 
TL;DR: The best predictor of primary production and of dominant life-forms in phytoplankton is the available externat energy, on which advection and turbulence depend, and this factor overrules more detailed models using light and nutrients as most relevant parameters, and based on laboratory experiments.
Journal ArticleDOI

Particulate organic carbon flux in the oceans—surface productivity and oxygen utilization

TL;DR: In this paper, an empirical relationship was established that predicts organic carbon flux at any depth in the oceans below the base of the euphotic zone as a function of the mean net primary production rate at the surface and depth-dependent consumption.
Journal ArticleDOI

Biological Consequences of El Niño

TL;DR: Evidence from 1982 and 1983 suggests effects on higher organisms such as fish, seabirds, and marine mammals, but several more years of observation are required to accurately determine the magnitude of the consequences on these higher trophic levels.
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