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FROM VOLUME 6, NUMBER 3, MARCH 1993

PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS...
THE CARBON CYCLE: OCEANIC

Item #d93mar58

Two related items from Nature, 361(6409), Jan. 21, 1993:

"Limits on Growth Rates," J.A. Raven (Dept. Biol. Sci., Univ. Dundee, Dundee DD1 4HN, UK), 209-210. Discusses the findings and implications of the following entry.

"Carbon Dioxide Limitation of Marine Phytoplankton Growth Rates," U. Riebesell (Dept. Biol. Sci., Univ. California, Santa Barbara CA 93106), D.A. Wolf-Gladrow, V. Smetacek, 249-251. Shows that, contrary to current thinking, diatom growth rate can be limited by the supply of CO₂ under optimum conditions. The doubling in surface water pCO₂ levels since the last glaciation could have stimulated marine productivity, increasing oceanic carbon sequestration by the biological pump.

Item #d93mar59

Special issue: "Measurement of Dissolved Organic Carbon and Nitrogen in Natural Waters," J.I. Hedges, C. Lee, Eds., Marine Chem., 41(1-3), Jan. 1993. (Elsevier Sci. Publishers, POB 211, 1000 AE Amsterdam, Neth.)

The issue begins with a summary by J. Hedges (Sch. Oceanog., WB-10, Univ. Washington, Seattle WA 98195) of a workshop held July 1991 in Seattle, Washington, followed by four subgroup reports, five invited background papers, and twenty data reports.

Item #d93mar60

"JGOFS: Measuring CO₂ in the Ocean," A.G. Dickson (Scripps Inst. Oceanog., La Jolla CA 92093), Eos, p. 546, Dec. 22, 1992. A brief update on the status and measurement techniques of this coordinated international study.

Item #d93mar61

Two items from Nature, 360(6402), Nov. 26, 1992:

"Frog Ponds and Ocean Iron," S.L. Pimm, 298-299. Discusses the following entry, which bears on fertilization of the oceans to increase the uptake of atmospheric CO₂.

"Interactions between Food-Web Structure and Nutrients on Pond Organisms," M.A. Leibold (Dept. Ecol., Univ. Chicago, 1101 E. 57th St., Chicago IL 60637), H.M. Wilbur, 341-343. Presents direct experimental evidence for an association between environmental productivity and the species composition of herbivores, with implications for how organisms will respond to abiotic factors such as nutrients that regulate primary productivity.

Item #d93mar62

"Spring Phytoplankton Blooms in the Absence of Vertical Water Column Stratification," D.W. Townsend (Bigelow Lab., McKown Pt., W. Boothbay Harbor ME 04575), M.D. Keller et al., Nature, 360(6399), 59ff., Nov. 5, 1992.

Although it is widely accepted that the seasonal development of a thermocline is requisite for the development of the spring bloom, evidence presented here suggests the bloom can precede and even contribute to development of the thermocline.

Item #d93mar63

"Ecology of Sea Ice Biota. 2. Global Significance," L. Legendre (Dept. Biol., Univ. Laval, Quebec City PQ G1K 7P4, Can.), S.F. Ackley et al., Polar Biol., 12(3-4), 429-444, Sep. 1992.

Derives new estimates of Arctic and Antarctic production of biogenic carbon, and discusses implications for climate change and biogeochemical fluxes of carbon.

Item #d93mar64

"Reconciling Particulate Organic Carbon Flux and Sediment Community Oxygen Consumption in the Deep North Pacific," K.L. Smith Jr. (Marine Biol. Div., Scripps Inst. Oceanog., La Jolla CA 92093), R.J. Baldwin, P.M. Williams, Nature, 359(6393), 313-316, Sep. 24, 1992.

Results of prolonged measurements (2.3 years) of flux into the benthic boundary layer emphasize the importance of extended measurements to elucidating the carbon cycle in the deep ocean.

Item #d93mar65

"The Role of Benthic Fluxes of Dissolved Organic Carbon in Oceanic and Sedimentary Carbon Cycling," D.J. Burdige (Dept. Oceanog., Old Dominion Univ., Norfolk VA 23529), M.J. Alperin et al., Geophys. Res. Lett., 19(18), 1851-1854, Sep. 23, 1992.

Pore water DOC data and direct benthic flux measurements suggest that marine sediments represent a significant source of DOC to the oceans.

Item #d93mar66

Two items from Nature, 359(6392), Sep. 17, 1992:

Comment on seawater carbon measurement technique of Ogawa and Ogura, p. 202.

"Short Residence Time of Colloids in the Upper Ocean Estimated from 238U-234Th Disequilibria," S.B. Moran (Woods Hole Oceanog. Inst., Woods Hole MA 02543), K.O. Buesseler, 221-223. In situ tracer measurements made near Bermuda suggest that macromolecular colloidal matter has a rapid turnover rate in the upper ocean.

Item #d93mar67

"Intense Hydrolytic Enzyme Activity on Marine Aggregates and Implications for Rapid Particle Dissolution," D.C. Smith (Marine Biol. Res., Scripps Inst. Oceanog., La Jolla CA 92093), M. Simon et al., Nature, 359(6391), 139-142, Sep. 10, 1992.

Results elucidate a biochemical mechanism for large-scale transfer of organic matter from sinking particles to the dissolved phase.

Item #d93mar68

"Application of an Atmospheric Tracer Model to High Southern Latitudes," R. Law (Dept. Meteor., Univ. Melbourne, Parkville, Vic., 3052, Australia), I. Simmonds, W.F. Budd, Tellus, 44B(4), 358-370, Sep. 1992.

Calculations with the University of Melbourne GCM are used to deduce sources and sinks of atmospheric CO₂. Net sources are found in the Northern Hemisphere and equatorial regions, and net sinks in the Southern Hemisphere. The latter result is of interest in view of the uncertainty of CO₂ uptake by Southern Hemisphere oceans.

Item #d93mar69

"CO₂ Transport at the Air-Sea Interface: Numerical Calculations for a Surface Renewal Model with Coupled Fluxes," L.F. Phillips (Chem. Dept., Univ. Canterbury, Christchurch 1, New Zealand), Geophys. Res. Lett., 19(16), 1667-1670, Aug. 21, 1992.

Calculations show that the magnitude and direction of CO₂ flux are strongly dependent on the temperature of the surface layer of liquid, and that existing measurements of CO₂ fluxes have probably erred on the low side, in the right direction to account for the current imbalance in the global CO₂ budget.

Item #d93mar70

"Use of a Simple Model for Studying Oceanic Tracer Distributions and the Global Carbon Cycle," U. Siegenthaler (Phys. Inst., Univ. Bern, CH-3012 Bern, Sidlerstr. 5, Switz.), F. Joos, Tellus, 44B(3), 186-207, July 1992.

The HILDA model combines features of box models and of the box-diffusion model. Calculations indicate an oceanic uptake of 1.9 Gt C yr-1 in 1980 and a near-zero net contribution from biota in the past several decades. Performance is compared to that of other, more complicated models.