Biogeochemistry of the Eastern Weddell Gyre

DOI

The Southern Ocean (SO) plays a key role in modulating atmospheric CO2 via physical and biological processes. However, over much of the SO, biological activity is iron-limited. New in situ data from the Antarctic zone south of Africa in a region centered at -20°E - 25°E reveal a previously overlooked region of high primary production, comparable in size to the northwest African upwelling region. Here, sea ice together with enclosed icebergs is channeled by prevailing winds to the eastern boundary of the Weddell Gyre, where a sharp transition to warmer waters causes melting. This cumulative melting provides a steady source of iron, fuelling an intense phytoplankton bloom that is not fully captured by monthly satellite production estimates. These findings imply that future changes in sea-ice cover and dynamics could have a significant effect on carbon sequestration in the SO.

Supplement to: Geibert, Walter; Assmy, Philipp; Bakker, Dorothee C E; Hanfland, Claudia; Hoppema, Mario; Pichevin, Laetitia; Schröder, Michael; Schwarz, Jill Nicola; Stimac, Ingrid; Usbeck, Regina; Webb, Adrian (2010): High productivity in an ice melting hot spot at the eastern boundary of the Weddell Gyre. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 24, GB3007

Identifier
DOI https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.726958
Related Identifier IsSupplementTo https://doi.org/10.1029/2009GB003657
Metadata Access https://ws.pangaea.de/oai/provider?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=datacite4&identifier=oai:pangaea.de:doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.726958
Provenance
Creator Geibert, Walter ORCID logo; Assmy, Philipp; Bakker, Dorothee C E ORCID logo; Hanfland, Claudia; Hoppema, Mario (ORCID: 0000-0002-2326-619X); Pichevin, Laetitia ORCID logo; Schröder, Michael; Schwarz, Jill Nicola ORCID logo; Stimac, Ingrid ORCID logo; Usbeck, Regina; Webb, Adrian
Publisher PANGAEA
Publication Year 2010
Funding Reference German Research Foundation https://doi.org/10.13039/501100001659 Crossref Funder ID 5472008 https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/5472008 Priority Programme 1158 Antarctic Research with Comparable Investigations in Arctic Sea Ice Areas
Rights Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
OpenAccess true
Representation
Resource Type Supplementary Publication Series of Datasets; Collection
Format application/zip
Size 5 datasets
Discipline Earth System Research
Spatial Coverage (-0.112W, -69.889S, 25.234E, -35.964N); South Atlantic Ocean; Weddell Sea; Lazarev Sea; Riiser-Larsen Sea; Indian Ocean
Temporal Coverage Begin 2002-11-26T06:08:00Z
Temporal Coverage End 2003-01-21T15:02:00Z