A Model-Data Synthesis Study of the Marine Iron Cycle

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This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Researchers at the University of California Irvine (UCI) will develop a model that will utilize the extensive field observations of dissolved Fe and Al concentrations and aerosol Fe and Al solubility that have been made on recent field campaigns by project collaborators. The goal is to improve upon the understanding of the behavior of iron in the ocean, which is an important, and often limiting micronutrient for ocean plant production. This work specifically builds upon prior efforts that have highlighted the importance of atmospheric and continental margin marine sediments as sources of dissolved iron to the oceans. The availability of new data sets from the recent CLIVAR field campaigns can be used to test, validate and improve upon a number of model parameters including the sedimentary iron source, scavenging, and biological uptake. Broader Impacts: An improved understanding of the iron cycle and its links to the carbon cycle are important for understanding of how oceanic iron inputs might be altered with climate change. Likewise, an improved grasp of the iron cycle could inform our knowledge of past climate history as well. The work will engage students at UCI and will contribute to the goals of the GEOTRACES program. The model that will be developed during this work will be made available to the community as part of the Community Climate System Model.