Hélène Planquette

Southern Ocean deep-water carbon export enhanced by natural iron fertilization

The addition of iron to high-nutrient, low-chlorophyll regions induces phytoplankton blooms that take up carbon. Carbon export from the surface layer and, in particular, the ability of the ocean and sediments to sequester carbon for many years remains, however, poorly quantified. Here we report data from the CROZEX experiment in the Southern Ocean, which was conducted to test the hypothesis that the observed north–south gradient in phytoplankton concentrations in the vicinity of the Crozet Islands is induced by natural iron fertilization that results in enhanced organic carbon flux to the deep ocean. We report annual particulate carbon fluxes out of the surface layer, at three kilometres below the ocean surface and to the ocean floor. We find that carbon fluxes from a highly productive, naturally iron-fertilized region of the sub-Antarctic Southern Ocean are two to three times larger than the carbon fluxes from an adjacent high-nutrient, low-chlorophyll area not fertilized by iron. Our findings support the hypothesis that increased iron supply to the glacial sub-Antarctic may have directly enhanced carbon export to the deep ocean. The CROZEX sequestration efficiency (the amount of carbon sequestered below the depth of winter mixing for a given iron supply) of 8,600 mol mol-1 was 18 times greater than that of a phytoplankton bloom induced artificially by adding iron, but 77 times smaller than that of another bloom initiated, like CROZEX, by a natural supply of iron. Large losses of purposefully added iron can explain the lower efficiency of the induced bloom6. The discrepancy between the blooms naturally supplied with iron may result in part from an underestimate of horizontal iron supply.

On the proportion of ballast versus non-ballast associated carbon export in the surface ocean

The role of biominerals in driving carbon export from the surface ocean is unclear. We compiled surface particulate organic carbon (POC), and mineral ballast export fluxes from 55 different locations in the Atlantic and Southern Oceans. Substantial surface POC export accompanied by negligible mineral export was recorded implying that association with mineral phases is not a precondition for organic export to occur. The proportion of non-mineral associated sinking POC ranged from 0 to 80% and was highest in areas previously shown to be dominated by diatoms. This is consistent with previous estimates showing that transfer efficiency in such regions is low. However we propose that, rather than the low transfer efficiency arising from diatom blooms being inherently characterized by poorly packaged aggregates which are efficiently exported but which disintegrate readily in mid water, it is due to such environments having very high levels of unballasted organic C export.

Fluxes of particulate iron from the upper ocean around the Crozet Islands: A naturally iron-fertilized environment in the Southern Ocean

Despite a large macronutrient reservoir, the Southern Ocean has low levels of chlorophyll, primarily due to low iron availability. Exceptions to this situation are island systems where natural terrestrial iron inputs allow the development of large blooms. Particulate organic carbon (POC) and particulate (labile and refractory) iron analyses were performed on large (>53 μm) particles collected at the base of the mixed layer within such a system (the Crozet Islands) and in adjacent high-nutrient, low-chlorophyll (HNLC) waters. Biogenic iron was obtained by removal of estimated lithogenic Fe from the total Fe present. We combine these data with 234Th measurements to determine downward particulate Fe fluxes. Fluxes of Fe ranged from 4 to 301 nmol m−2 d−1 (labile), not detectable to 50 μmol m−2 d−1 (biogenic), and from 3 to 145 μmol m−2 d−1 (total) and, on average, were approximately four times larger below the highly productive, naturally iron-fertilized region than below the adjacent HNLC area. Downward labile iron fluxes are close to the sum of dissolved terrestrial, atmospheric, and upwelled iron calculated from the Planquette et al. (2007), model. Refractory iron fluxes are ∼2 orders of magnitude larger, and these can only have come from particles advected from the plateau itself. The “biogenic Fe,” is a substantial fraction (0–76, mean 23%) of the total particulate Fe to the north of the islands. The origin of this Fe pool must be dominantly biological conversion from the lithogenic fraction, as other supply terms including aeolian, deep mixing, and lateral advection of dissolved Fe are inadequate to account for the magnitude of this Fe. Inclusion of the offshore biologically available fraction of the lithogenic iron flux is therefore required to calculate fully the yield of carbon exported per unit iron injected.

Quantifying export production in the Southern Ocean: Implications for the Baxs proxy

The water column and sedimentary Baxs distribution around the Crozet Plateau is used to decipher the controls and timing of barite formation and to evaluate how export production signals are recorded in sediments underlying a region of natural Fe fertilization within the Fe limited Southern Ocean. Export production estimated from preserved, vertical sedimentary Baxs accumulation rates are compared with published export fluxes assessed from an integrated study of the biological carbon pump to determine the validity of Baxs as a quantitative proxy under different Fe supply conditions typical of the Southern Ocean. Detailed assessment of the geochemical partitioning of Ba in sediments and the lithogenic end-member allows appropriate correction of the bulk Ba content and determination of the Baxs content of sediments and suspended particles. The upper water column distribution of Baxs is extremely heterogeneous spatially and temporally. Organic carbon/Baxs ratios in deep traps from the Fe fertilized region are similar to other oceanic settings allowing quantification of the inferred carbon export based on established algorithms. There appears to be some decoupling of POC and Ba export in the Fe limited region south of the Plateau. The export production across the Crozet Plateau inferred from the Baxs sedimentary proxy indicates that the Fe fertilized area to the north of the Plateau experiences enhanced export relative to equivalent Southern Ocean settings throughout the Holocene and that this influence may also have impacted the site to the south for significant periods. This interpretation is corroborated by alternative productivity proxies (opal accumulation, 231Paxs/230Thxs). Baxs can be used to quantify export production in complex settings such as naturally Fe-fertilized (volcanoclastic) areas, providing appropriate lithogenic correction is undertaken, and sediment focusing is corrected for along with evaluation of barite preservation.