Stoichiometry of Oceanic Remineralization by Non-Linear Global Optimization on an Improved Data Set

再矿化比率代表了下沉颗粒从水柱下降到海底时分解释放的元素的平均化学计量关系。理论上，在适当的时间和空间尺度上，这些比例与浮游植物吸收元素的比例是相似的。这些比率经常用于生物地球化学模拟，它们允许通过简单的比例关系将不同的循环联系起来。虽然该比率在空间或时间上的变化会对海洋产生大规模的影响，但目前的共识表明，深海的再矿化比率相对恒定，但在更有活力的上层存在显著的变化。如果要正确预测铁施肥的影响，测量有机碳泵的效率，或调查气候变化对海洋生物地球化学循环的影响，从而在与人为相关的尺度（几十年）上对这些过程的重要性提出主张，就需要对有机物质再矿化进行准确的全球描述。普林斯顿大学的研究人员建议使用新开发的数学估计方案和全球海洋数据分析项目（GLODAP）数据集，对水柱碳、碱度、氧和主要营养物质（硝酸盐、磷酸盐、硅酸盐）再矿化模式进行全球调查。使用一种新开发的方法来求解描述多个水质量混合和颗粒物质进入溶解营养物再矿化的方程耦合系统，他们可以同时求解水质量分数和每个再矿化比率，而不假设比率恒定，并使用地理蒙特卡罗方法传播水质量表征中的不确定性。这项研究的更广泛的影响将包括为海洋学界提供一个全球数据库，其中包含：1)构成过去几十年主要海洋考察中收集的大多数水样的主要水团的组分；2)从溶解的营养物场推断的再矿化比率；3)由生物呼吸或溶解引起的测量浓度的部分。目前不存在包含这些信息的集中式数据存储库，用于计算这些参数的现有方法也很有限。此外，还将培训一名研究生。

Remineralization ratios represent the average stoichiometric relationships of elements released by decomposition of sinking particles as they fall thought the water column to the ocean floor. In theory, these ratios are similar, on appropriate temporal and spatial scales, to the ratios in which elements are taken up by phytoplankton. These ratios are often used in biogeochemical modeling and they permit linking the different cycles through simple proportionality. Although variations in the ratio in space or time can have large-scale oceanic impact, current consensus suggests that remineralization ratios are relatively constant in the deep ocean, but that significant variations exist in the more dynamic upper layers. If one is to correctly predict the impacts of iron fertilization, to measure the efficiency of the organic carbon pump, or to investigate the effects of climate change on oceanic biogeochemical cycles, and so make claims about the significance of these processes on anthropogenically relevant scales (decades), an accurate global depiction of organic matter remineralization is required. Researchers from Princeton University propose to carry out a global investigation of the pattern of water column remineralization of carbon, alkalinity, oxygen and the major nutrients (nitrate, phosphate, silicate) using a newly developed mathematical estimation scheme and the Global Ocean Data Analysis Project (GLODAP) data set. Using a newly developed method to solve a coupled system of equation describing mixing of multiple water masses and remineralization of particulate matter into dissolved nutrients, they can simultaneously solve for the water mass fractions and each remineralization ratio, without assuming ratio constancy, and propagate uncertainties in water mass characterization using a geographic Monte-Carlo approach. The broader impacts of this research will include providing the oceanographic community with a global database containing 1) the fractions of the major water masses constituting most water sample collected as part of the major oceanographic expeditions of the last few decades, 2) the remineralization ratios inferred from the dissolved nutrient fields, and 3) the faction of the measured concentrations that arises from biological respiration or dissolution. No centralized data repository containing this information currently exists, and existing methods used to compute these parameters are limited. In addition, a graduate student would be trained.