Collaborative Research: Penetration of the Bomb 14C Transient in the Dissolved and Particulate Organic Carbon Pools in Two Mid-Ocean Gyres

在世界海洋中以生物方式产生和分布的有机碳与整个全球碳循环的运转以及海洋的生态密切相关。该项目的研究人员是研究海洋碳循环的公认领导者，他们将继续研究溶解形式和颗粒形式的有机碳的循环。总体目标是利用溶解和颗粒有机物质中的天然和人为放射性碳(14C)来估计海洋的周转时间和水库大小。他们将研究自十年前在北大西洋和北太平洋盆地进行最后一次测量以来，碳储量和周转量的变化。他们还将试图通过测量特定有机类别中溶解和颗粒有机物的14C组成，如蛋白质、碳水化合物和脂肪，来限制上层海洋难溶有机碳的停留时间。最后，他们建议测量细菌核酸中的14C，以调查细菌对旧的溶解有机物的利用。研究人员预计，这项工作将导致对这些非生命形式的碳在世界海洋中所起的生物地球化学作用的重大新见解。

DruffelThe organic carbon generated biologically and distributed in the world ocean is intimately related to the functioning of the entire global carbon cycle as well to the ecology of the seas. The investigators on this project, who are established leaders in the study of the marine carbon cycle, will continue their research into the cycling of organic carbon in both its dissolved and particulate forms. The overall objective is to use the natural and anthropogenic radiocarbon (14C) in dissolved and particulate organic matter to estimate turnover times and reservoir sizes in the ocean. They will examine changes in the carbon reservoirs and turnover since the last measurements were made one decade ago in the North Atlantic and North Pacific basins. They will also attempt to constrain the residence time of upper ocean refractory dissolved organic carbon by surveying the 14C composition of dissolved and particulate organic matter in specific organic classes such as protein, carbohydrate, and lipids. Finally, they propose to measure 14C in bacterial nucleic acids to investigate bacterial utilization of old dissolved organic matter. The investigators anticipate that this work would lead to major new insights into the biogeochemical role played by these non-living forms of carbon in the world ocean.