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

WHOI的研究人员将利用粒子通量工具箱和适用于研究上部阳光照射区的颗粒有机碳通量的表征技术，试图评估位于南极西部半岛（WAP）的帕尔默长期生态研究（PAL）站点的所谓“生物泵”项。这些测量的目的是描述南极透光带产生的有机物的生产、输出（下沉）和深度再矿化率的季节动态。 这将导致更好地了解在这个难以进入的地区碳循环的生物地球化学控制。此外，目前还不知道有多少新固定的有机碳从大陆架上输出，有效地推动了大气（包括人为）CO2的流入，并被封存到深海中。以前的时间序列沉积物陷阱在WAP的比较似乎表明较小的下沉碳通量比其他，同样作为生产性的南极沿海地区，如罗斯海。 新的观测和建模活动将试图解释这种差异，并解释明显低效的粒子输出。 “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)."