WAPflux - New Tools to Study the Fate of Phytoplankton Production in the West Antarctic Peninsula

通过使用粒子通量和表征技术的工具箱，WHOI的研究人员将尝试评估西南极半岛(WAP)帕尔默长期生态研究(PAL)站点的所谓生物泵期限。这些测量的目标是描述南极光带产生的有机物质的生产、出口(下沉)和深度再矿化速率的季节动态。这应该有助于更好地理解在这一难以进入的区域中对碳循环的生物地球化学控制。此外，目前尚不清楚有多少新固定的有机碳从货架上出口，有效地推动大气(包括人为)二氧化碳流入深海。对WAP以前的时间序列沉积物陷阱的比较似乎表明，与其他地区相比，下沉C通量较小，与生产力相当的南极沿海地区，如罗斯海。新的观察和建模活动将试图解释这种差异，并解释显然效率低下的粒子输出。该奖项是根据2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》(公法111-5)资助的。

AbstractBy using a tool-box of particle flux and characterization techniques appropriate to the study of particulate organic carbon fluxes out of the upper sunlit zone, WHOI researchers will attempt to evaluate the so called 'biological pump' term at the Palmer Long Term Ecological Research (PAL) site in the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP). The goal of these measurements is to describe the seasonal dynamics of production, export (sinking) and at-depth remineralization rates of organic matter produced in the Antarctic photic zone. This should lead to a better understanding of the biogeochemical controls on the carbon cycle in this difficult to access region. Additionally, how much of the newly fixed organic carbon is exported off the shelf, effectively driving an influx of atmospheric (including anthropogenic) CO2 to be sequestered into the deep ocean is not presently known. Comparison of prior time series sediment traps in the WAP seem to indicate smaller sinking C fluxes than other, as equally as productive Antarctic coastal regions, e.g. the Ross Sea. New observations and modeling activities will attempt to explain this discrepancy, and to account for the apparently inefficient particle export. "This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)."