Global Models of Chemical Fluxes in the Oceans

从海洋表面进入深海的化学通量随营养物的供应、光的可获得性以及局部湍流和下沉对新产生的物质的分散而在海洋上变化。这项研究将导致全球尺度模式的建立，它将把生物和化学成分整合到多维海洋环流模式中。已经开发出一系列描述上层海洋生态、水柱转化和沉积物成岩作用的组件模型，可用于各种复杂程度的环流模型。将强调上层海洋生物学的两个关键方面，它们导致海洋中的化学通量偏离最简单的通量浓度。首先是高纬度地表水中存在未利用的营养物质。一个基于浮游植物大小类别的假设的上层海洋生态系统模型将被用来解释在海洋之间观察到的营养物质利用的显著差异。第二个方面是海洋生物生产再工厂溶解的有机化合物。早期三维模型研究的结果表明，下沉颗粒对营养物质的再生发生在水柱太高的地方，无法解释海洋中观察到的营养物质和通量的分布。难溶有机化合物的平流和扩散通量似乎是将有机碳和营养物质从上层海洋移至深海所需的缺失成分。这样的模型在得到其他研究人员的现场数据验证后，将能够理解和预测碳和氮等元素的全球通量。

Chemical fluxes from the ocean's surface into the deep sea vary over the ocean in response to the supply of nutri- ents, the availability of light and the dispersion of newly-produced material by local turbulence and sinking. This study will lead to the construction of global scale models, which will integrate biological and chemical com- ponents into multi-dimensional ocean circulation models. Already developed are a series of component models describing the upper ocean ecology, water column transformations, and sediment diagenesis, which can be used in circulation models of variable complexity. Two key aspects of upper ocean biology that cause chemical fluxes in the ocean to diverge from the simplest flux concentrations will be emphasized. The first is the presence of unutilized nutrients in high latitude surface water. A hypothetical upper ocean ecosystem model based on size-classes of phytoplankton will be used to account for the notable differences in nutrient utilization observed between oceans. The second aspect is the production of refactory dissolved organic compounds by marine organisms. Results from earlier three-dimensional model studies show that the regeneration of nutrients from sinking particles takes place too high in the water column to account for observed distributions of nutrients and fluxes in the ocean. Advective and diffusive fluxes of refractory dissolved organic compounds appear to be the missing ingredients needed to account for the removal of organic carbon and nutrients from the upper ocean to the deep sea. Models such as these, when verified by field data from other investigators, will permit understanding and prediction of global fluxes of elements such as carbon and nitrogen.