Global data compilation of benthic data sets II

DOI

In this study we present a global distribution pattern and budget of the minimum flux of particulate organic carbon to the sea floor (J POC alpha). The estimations are based on regionally specific correlations between the diffusive oxygen flux across the sediment-water interface, the total organic carbon content in surface sediments, and the oxygen concentration in bottom waters. For this, we modified the principal equation of Cai and Reimers [1995] as a basic monod reaction rate, applied within 11 regions where in situ measurements of diffusive oxygen uptake exist. By application of the resulting transfer functions to other regions with similar sedimentary conditions and areal interpolation, we calculated a minimum global budget of particulate organic carbon that actually reaches the sea floor of ~0.5 GtC yr-1 (>1000 m water depth (wd)), whereas approximately 0.002-0.12 GtC yr-1 is buried in the sediments (0.01-0.4% of surface primary production). Despite the fact that our global budget is in good agreement with previous studies, we found conspicuous differences among the distribution patterns of primary production, calculations based on particle trap collections of the POC flux, and J POC alpha of this study. These deviations, especially located at the southeastern and southwestern Atlantic Ocean, the Greenland and Norwegian Sea and the entire equatorial Pacific Ocean, strongly indicate a considerable influence of lateral particle transport on the vertical link between surface waters and underlying sediments. This observation is supported by sediment trap data. Furthermore, local differences in the availability and quality of the organic matter as well as different transport mechanisms through the water column are discussed.

Supplement to: Seiter, Katherina; Hensen, Christian; Zabel, Matthias (2005): Benthic carbon mineralization on a global scale. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 19, GB1010

Identifier
DOI https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.733691
Related Identifier https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GB002225
Metadata Access https://ws.pangaea.de/oai/provider?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=datacite4&identifier=oai:pangaea.de:doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.733691
Provenance
Creator Seiter, Katherina; Hensen, Christian; Zabel, Matthias ORCID logo
Publisher PANGAEA
Publication Year 2005
Rights Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
OpenAccess true
Representation
Language English
Resource Type Supplementary Publication Series of Datasets; Collection
Format application/zip
Size 3 datasets
Discipline Earth System Research
Spatial Coverage (-5.441W, -60.089S, 40.893E, 82.398N); South Atlantic; Norwegian Sea; Labrador Sea; South Atlantic Ocean; South Pacific Ocean; Arabian Sea; North Greenland Sea; Gulf of Guinea; North Pacific Ocean; Benguela Current, South Atlantic Ocean; St. Anna Trough, Kara Sea; Atlantic Ocean; North Atlantic; Amerasian Basin; Angola Basin; Walvis Ridge, Southeast Atlantic Ocean; Equatorial Atlantic; Brazil Basin; Cape Basin; Congo Fan; Cardno Seamount; Amazon Fan; Walvis Ridge; Namibia continental slope; Uruguay continental margin; South-East Pacific; Northern Cape Basin; Pacific; East Atlantic; eastern Romanche Fracture Zone; Sierra Leone Basin/Guinea Basin; off Nigeria; off Gabun; Arctic Ocean; Norwegian-Greenland Sea; Northeast Atlantic; Voering Plateau/Lofoten Basin; South Indian Ocean; South Pacific; Voring Plateau; Bear Island Fan; Porto Seamount; Eastern Equatorial Pacific; Voering Plateau; Iceland Sea; Fram Strait; Antarctic Ocean; Greenland Sea; Meteor Rise; Shona Ridge; Agulhas Basin; Svalbard; Yermak Plateau; Scotia Sea; Barents Sea; Laptev Sea; Laptev Sea, Taymyr Island; Scotia Sea, southwest Atlantic; North Pacific/Gulf of California/SLOPE
Temporal Coverage Begin 1887-02-14T06:00:00Z
Temporal Coverage End 1997-10-29T00:00:00Z