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136875 - The interplay between regeneration and scavenging fluxes.pdf (714.86 kB)

The interplay between regeneration and scavenging fluxes drives ocean iron cycling

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posted on 2023-05-20, 09:58 authored by Tagliabue, A, Andrew BowieAndrew Bowie, DeVries, T, Ellwood, MJ, Landing, WM, Milne, A, Ohnemus, DC, Twining, BS, Philip BoydPhilip Boyd
Despite recent advances in observational data coverage, quantitative constraints on how different physical and biogeochemical processes shape dissolved iron distributions remain elusive, lowering confidence in future projections for iron-limited regions. Here we show that dissolved iron is cycled rapidly in Pacific mode and intermediate water and accumulates at a rate controlled by the strongly opposing fluxes of regeneration and scavenging. Combining new data sets within a watermass framework shows that the multidecadal dissolved iron accumulation is much lower than expected from a meta-analysis of iron regeneration fluxes. This mismatch can only be reconciled by invoking significant rates of iron removal to balance iron regeneration, which imply generation of authigenic particulate iron pools. Consequently, rapid internal cycling of iron, rather than its physical transport, is the main control on observed iron stocks within intermediate waters globally and upper ocean iron limitation will be strongly sensitive to subtle changes to the internal cycling balance.

Funding

Australian Research Council

History

Publication title

Nature Communications

Volume

10

Article number

4960

Number

4960

Pagination

1-8

ISSN

2041-1723

Department/School

Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies

Publisher

Nature Publishing Group

Place of publication

United Kingdom

Rights statement

© The Author(s) 2019. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Repository Status

  • Open

Socio-economic Objectives

Measurement and assessment of marine water quality and condition

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