ROLE OF SUBMICROMETER PARTICLES IN THE OCEAN
ROLE OF SUBMICROMETER PARTICLES IN THE OCEAN
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DOI：
10.1038/345242a0
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发表时间：
1990-05-17
期刊：
影响因子：
64.8
通讯作者：
KOGURE, K
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
ISAO, K;HARA, S;KOGURE, K
颗粒物质在海洋的地球化学循环中起着重要的作用;当颗粒从水柱中沉降出来时，它们携带着碳和其他吸附的化学物质。由于亚微米尺寸的颗粒（在“颗粒”和“溶解”材料之间的边界处）在天然沃茨中没有明显的沉降速率，因此通常认为它们在颗粒向下流动中不重要，并且颗粒的性质和来源在很大程度上是未知的1 -5。在这里，我们介绍了落射荧光显微镜和颗粒计数的结果，这些结果使我们能够确定亚微米颗粒（尺寸范围为0.38-1 µm）的垂直分布。我们发现，这些颗粒中有95%以上是非生命的，它们出现在海洋的上层（50米），浓度约为每毫升1000万个。许多非生命颗粒似乎是脆弱和灵活的，似乎有很高的含水量，主要由有机物质组成。这些亚微米颗粒的尺寸分布使我们得出结论，正如Sharp 6所建议的那样，相当大一部分（至少10%）的“溶解”有机物质实际上可能是这些小颗粒的形式。
PARTICULATE matter plays an important part in biogeochemical cycles in the ocean; as particles settle out of the water column, they carry with them carbon and other adsorbed chemicals. Because particles of sub-micrometre size (at the boundary between 'particulate' and 'dissolved' materials) do not have appreciable settling rates in natural waters, they have generally been considered unimportant in the downward flux of particles and the nature and origin of the particles are largely unknown1–5. Here we present results from epifluorescence microscopy and from particle counting which have allowed us to determine the vertical distribution of sub-micrometre particles (size range 0.38–1 µm). We find that >95% of these particles are non-living and occur in the upper layers of the ocean (50 m) in concentrations of the order of 10 million per millilitre. Many of the non-living particles seem to be fragile and flexible, and seem to have a high water content and to be composed largely of organic material. The size distribution of these sub-micrometre particles leads us to conclude that a significant portion (at least 10%) of 'dissolved' organic material may in fact be in the form of these small particles, as suggested by Sharp6.