Polar ocean stratification in a cold climate

The low-latitude ocean is strongly stratified by the warmth of its surface water. As a result, the great volume of the deep ocean has easiest access to the atmosphere through the polar surface ocean. In the modern polar ocean during the winter, the vertical distribution of temperature promotes overturning, with colder water over warmer, while the salinity distribution typically promotes stratification, with fresher water over saltier. However, the sensitivity of seawater density to temperature is reduced as temperature approaches the freezing point, with potential consequences for global ocean circulation under cold climates. Here we present deep-sea records of biogenic opal accumulation and sedimentary nitrogen isotopic composition from the Subarctic North Pacific Ocean and the Southern Ocean. These records indicate that vertical stratification increased in both northern and southern high latitudes 2.7 million years ago, when Northern Hemisphere glaciation intensified in association with global cooling during the late Pliocene epoch. We propose that the cooling caused this increased stratification by weakening the role of temperature in polar ocean density structure so as to reduce its opposition to the stratifying effect of the vertical salinity distribution. The shift towards stratification in the polar ocean 2.7 million years ago may have increased the quantity of carbon dioxide trapped in the abyss, amplifying the global cooling.     

Variations of opal accumulation rates and paleoproductivity over the past 12 Ma at ODP Site 1143, southern South China Sea

The biogenic silica analysis was performed on 463 samples from ODP 184 Site 1143, the southern South China Sea. The results show that the opal content and MAR evidently increased between 12.3 and 5.7 Ma, which was contemporary with the high carbonate and total MARs, reflecting the high biogenic productivity in the late Miocene.This demonstrates the occurrence of the late Miocene "Biogenie Bloom Event" in the southern South China Sea, corresponding to the late Miocene-early Pliocene "Biogenic Bloom Event" in the Indian-Pacific Ocean. The increases of opal content and MAR after the middle Pleistocene (about 0.7 Ma)is inferred to result from the enhanced upwelling and nutrient supply, which was induced by the intensified monsoon circulation after the "Mid-Pleistocene Revolution".     

正交试验法优化北极海洋沉积物中生源硅提取条件

生源硅主要来源于硅藻等生物,生源硅的积累反映上层水体中海洋生产力的时空变化,是古生产力和古气候研究的重要工具.为准确测定北极海洋沉积物中生源硅含量,优化生源硅化学提取法的提取条件,通过正交试验法,探讨了不同因素对生源硅提取效率的影响,优选出适合北极海洋沉积物中生源硅测定的实验条件.结果表明,各因素对提取效率的影响程度依次为:提取剂浓度>固液比>提取剂种类>提取温度;化学提取法的优选条件为:0.50 mol/L氢氧化钠,固液比1.25 g/L,提取温度90℃.测得北极海洋沉积物标样中生源硅含量为57.03 mg/g,平行误差2.51%,方法加标回收率介于76.15%~92.11%,相对标准偏差(RSD)为1.93%~7.52%.     

A mesoscale phytoplankton bloom in the polar Southern Ocean stimulated by iron fertilization

Changes in iron supply to oceanic plankton are thought to have a significant effect on concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide by altering rates of carbon sequestration, a theory known as the 'iron hypothesis'. For this reason, it is important to understand the response of pelagic biota to increased iron supply. Here we report the results of a mesoscale iron fertilization experiment in the polar Southern Ocean, where the potential to sequester iron-elevated algal carbon is probably greatest. Increased iron supply led to elevated phytoplankton biomass and rates of photosynthesis in surface waters, causing a large drawdown of carbon dioxide and macronutrients, and elevated dimethyl sulphide levels after 13 days. This drawdown was mostly due to the proliferation of diatom stocks. But downward export of biogenic carbon was not increased. Moreover, satellite observations of this massive bloom 30 days later, suggest that a sufficient proportion of the added iron was retained in surface waters. Our findings demonstrate that iron supply controls phytoplankton growth and community composition during summer in these polar Southern Ocean waters, but the fate of algal carbon remains unknown and depends on the interplay between the processes controlling export, remineralisation and timescales of water mass subduction.     

Evidence for deep-water production in the North Pacific Ocean during the early Cenozoic warm interval

The deep-ocean circulation is responsible for a significant component of global heat transport. In the present mode of circulation, deep waters form in the North Atlantic and Southern oceans where surface water becomes sufficiently cold and dense to sink. Polar temperatures during the warmest climatic interval of the Cenozoic era (approximately 65 to 40 million years (Myr) ago) were significantly warmer than today, and this may have been a consequence of enhanced oceanic heat transport. However, understanding the relationship between deep-ocean circulation and ancient climate is complicated by differences in oceanic gateways, which affect where deep waters form and how they circulate. Here I report records of neodymium isotopes from two cores in the Pacific Ocean that indicate a shift in deep-water production from the Southern Ocean to the North Pacific approximately 65 Myr ago. The source of deep waters reverted back to the Southern Ocean 40 Myr ago. The relative timing of changes in the neodymium and oxygen isotope records indicates that changes in Cenozoic deep-water circulation patterns were the consequence, not the cause, of extreme Cenozoic warmth.     

Intensified deep Pacific inflow and ventilation in Pleistocene glacial times

The production of cold, deep waters in the Southern Ocean is an important factor in the Earth's heat budget. The supply of deep water to the Pacific Ocean is presently dominated by a single source, the deep western boundary current east of New Zealand. Here we use sediment records deposited under the influence of this deep western boundary current to reconstruct deep-water properties and speed changes during the Pleistocene epoch. In physical and isotope proxies we find evidence for intensified deep Pacific Ocean inflow and ventilation during the glacial periods of the past 1.2 million years. The changes in throughflow may be directly related to an increased production of Antarctic Bottom Water during glacial times. Possible causes for such an increased bottom-water production include increasing wind strengths in the Southern Ocean or an increase in annual sea-ice formation, leaving dense water after brine rejection and thereby enhancing deep convection. We infer also that the global thermohaline circulation was perturbed significantly during the mid-Pleistocene climate transition between 0.86 and 0.45 million years ago.     

南大西洋被动陆缘沉积物厚度特征与分段对比

基于美国国家海洋和大气管理局(NOAA)发布的最新全球沉积物厚度数据, 综合利用被动陆缘盆地、洋底高原和转换断层等地质信息, 识别南大西洋七大沉积中心。南大西洋沉积物厚度整体上呈西厚东薄、北厚南薄的趋势, 按陆缘及盆地特征, 将大西洋两岸盆地从北到南划分为4段: 赤道段、中段、南段和福克兰段,其中被动陆缘盆地主要分布在前3段。赤道段盆地主要受转换断层控制, 发育三叠系蒸发岩; 中段盆地发育阿普第阶盐沉积, 是油气勘探的重点区域; 南段受火山活动的影响, 以发育向海倾斜反射体为主要特征。     

Silica photonic crystals with quasi-full band gap in the visible region prepared in ethanol

Monodisperse silica spheres of 252 nm with a standard deviation of 5.7% are prepared by Stber method. By compari-son of both of media, ethanol instead of water is used to assemble opal, and the artiflcial opal has been prepared by the sedimentation inethanol of silica spheres. The structure of the opal prepared has been examined and discussed. The results show that the artificial opal hasa structure similar to the face-centered cubic (fcc) type packed system with silica spheres. Transmission measurements of the artificial opalhave been conducted, which shows that the artificial opal is quasi-full band gap silica photonic crystals in the visible region.     

Decline of surface temperature and salinity in the western tropical Pacific Ocean in the Holocene epoch

In the present-day climate, surface water salinities are low in the western tropical Pacific Ocean and increase towards the eastern part of the basin. The salinity of surface waters in the tropical Pacific Ocean is thought to be controlled by a combination of atmospheric convection, precipitation, evaporation and ocean dynamics, and on interannual timescales significant variability is associated with the El Ni?o/Southern Oscillation cycles. However, little is known about the variability of the coupled ocean-atmosphere system on timescales of centuries to millennia. Here we combine oxygen isotope and Mg/Ca data from foraminifers retrieved from three sediment cores in the western tropical Pacific Ocean to reconstruct Holocene sea surface temperatures and salinities in the region. We find a decrease in sea surface temperatures of approximately 0.5 degrees C over the past 10,000 yr, whereas sea surface salinities decreased by approximately 1.5 practical salinity units. Our data imply either that the Pacific basin as a whole has become progressively less salty or that the present salinity gradient along the Equator has developed relatively recently.     

海底构造运动的指示物--多金属结核中的CaCO3/Fe2O3和MgCO3/Fe2O3比值

研究了中太平洋3个多金属结核中共5个侧面CaCO3/Fe2O3和MgCO3/Fe2O3比值的深度分布。根据CaCO3的热力学性质，我们认为结核中的CaCO3/Fe2O3比值与沉积物中的CaCO3保存量类似，与古水深之间存在着负相关关系。结核中由表及里，CaCO3/Fe2O3比值逐渐增大，说明结核所处海域，即中太平洋海盆的水深逐渐增大，这在一定程度上也反映了中太平洋海盆的下降，因而结核中的CaCO3/Fe2O3比值也许可以作为海底构造运动的指示物。而MgCO3/Fe2O3比值与其有着良好的一生，说明其与CaCO3/Fe2O3比值一样，也可以作为海底构造运动的指示物。     

The Southern Ocean biogeochemical divide

Modelling studies have demonstrated that the nutrient and carbon cycles in the Southern Ocean play a central role in setting the air-sea balance of CO(2) and global biological production. Box model studies first pointed out that an increase in nutrient utilization in the high latitudes results in a strong decrease in the atmospheric carbon dioxide partial pressure (pCO2). This early research led to two important ideas: high latitude regions are more important in determining atmospheric pCO2 than low latitudes, despite their much smaller area, and nutrient utilization and atmospheric pCO2 are tightly linked. Subsequent general circulation model simulations show that the Southern Ocean is the most important high latitude region in controlling pre-industrial atmospheric CO(2) because it serves as a lid to a larger volume of the deep ocean. Other studies point out the crucial role of the Southern Ocean in the uptake and storage of anthropogenic carbon dioxide and in controlling global biological production. Here we probe the system to determine whether certain regions of the Southern Ocean are more critical than others for air-sea CO(2) balance and the biological export production, by increasing surface nutrient drawdown in an ocean general circulation model. We demonstrate that atmospheric CO(2) and global biological export production are controlled by different regions of the Southern Ocean. The air-sea balance of carbon dioxide is controlled mainly by the biological pump and circulation in the Antarctic deep-water formation region, whereas global export production is controlled mainly by the biological pump and circulation in the Subantarctic intermediate and mode water formation region. The existence of this biogeochemical divide separating the Antarctic from the Subantarctic suggests that it may be possible for climate change or human intervention to modify one of these without greatly altering the other.     

Biological productivity and carbon cycling in the Arctic Ocean

Primary production, bacterial production, particulate organic carbon fluxes and organic carbon burial rates were quantified during the summer period of 1999 in the Arctic Ocean via 14C uptake, 3H uptake, 234Th/238U disequilibrium and 210Pbex dating, respectively. The integrated primary production in the water column was as high as 197 mmolC/(m2@d) in the Chukchi shelf and was 3.8 mmolC/(m2@d) in the Canada Basin. These rates are higher than those reported previously. The ratios of bacterial production to primary production in the study region were higher than 0.5, indicating that microbial activity is not depressed but important in cold Arctic waters. 234Th/238U disequilibria were evident at the station in the Canada Basin. The presence of significant 234Th deficiency suggested that scavenging and removal processes are also important to biogeochemical cycles of trace elements in the Arctic Ocean. Particulate organic carbon export flux was estimated to be 1.0 mmolC/(m2@d). Measurements of sediment excess 210Pb profile in the Chukchi shelf allowed us to estimate the amount of organic carbon buried in the bottom sediment, which ranged from 25 to 35 mmolC/(m2@d) and represented about 59%-82% of the mean primary production in the euphotic zone. Overall, our results indicated that the Arctic Ocean has active carbon cycling and is not a biological desert as previously believed. Therefore, the Arctic Ocean may play an important role in the global carbon cycle and climate change.     

南黄海表层沉积物中生源要素的分布规律及其环境意义

【目的】研究南黄海表层沉积物中生源要素的分布规律及其影响因素。【方法】通过测定南黄海82个站位表层沉积物样品中生源要素的含量及表层沉积物的平均粒径,分析研究区表层沉积物中生源要素和沉积物粒径的分布特征,并从表层沉积物中有机质来源、沉积物粒度、水动力作用和环境等因素探讨其对生源要素分布的影响。【结果】南黄海表层沉积物中生源要素总有机碳(TOC)、总氮(TN)及总磷(TP)的含量与平均粒径存在显著的相关关系,近岸沉积物粒度较大,对应生源要素的含量较低,在南黄海中部海区的沉积物粒度较细,各生源要素的含量较高。【结论】表层沉积物的粒度是影响生源要素含量分布的主要因素,即粒度越细,表层沉积物中生源要素含量越高。同时,有机质来源和水动力作用在一定程度上也影响和控制着表层沉积物粒度及生源要素的分布。生源要素TP分别与TOC、TN之间相对较弱的相关关系和近岸河口等地生源要素的高值表明,可能存在其他外部环境因素也会对其含量造成影响。     

Carbon dioxide release from the North Pacific abyss during the last deglaciation

Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations were significantly lower during glacial periods than during intervening interglacial periods, but the mechanisms responsible for this difference remain uncertain. Many recent explanations call on greater carbon storage in a poorly ventilated deep ocean during glacial periods, but direct evidence regarding the ventilation and respired carbon content of the glacial deep ocean is sparse and often equivocal. Here we present sedimentary geochemical records from sites spanning the deep subarctic Pacific that--together with previously published results--show that a poorly ventilated water mass containing a high concentration of respired carbon dioxide occupied the North Pacific abyss during the Last Glacial Maximum. Despite an inferred increase in deep Southern Ocean ventilation during the first step of the deglaciation (18,000-15,000 years ago), we find no evidence for improved ventilation in the abyssal subarctic Pacific until a rapid transition approximately 14,600 years ago: this change was accompanied by an acceleration of export production from the surface waters above but only a small increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration. We speculate that these changes were mechanistically linked to a roughly coeval increase in deep water formation in the North Atlantic, which flushed respired carbon dioxide from northern abyssal waters, but also increased the supply of nutrients to the upper ocean, leading to greater carbon dioxide sequestration at mid-depths and stalling the rise of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. Our findings are qualitatively consistent with hypotheses invoking a deglacial flushing of respired carbon dioxide from an isolated, deep ocean reservoir, but suggest that the reservoir may have been released in stages, as vigorous deep water ventilation switched between North Atlantic and Southern Ocean source regions.     

Effect of iron supply on Southern Ocean CO2 uptake and implications for glacial atmospheric CO2

Photosynthesis by marine phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean, and the associated uptake of carbon, is thought to be currently limited by the availability of iron. One implication of this limitation is that a larger iron supply to the region in glacial times could have stimulated algal photosynthesis, leading to lower concentrations of atmospheric CO2. Similarly, it has been proposed that artificial iron fertilization of the oceans might increase future carbon sequestration. Here we report data from a whole-ecosystem test of the iron-limitation hypothesis in the Southern Ocean, which show that surface uptake of atmospheric CO2 and uptake ratios of silica to carbon by phytoplankton were strongly influenced by nanomolar increases of iron concentration. We use these results to inform a model of global carbon and ocean nutrients, forced with atmospheric iron fluxes to the region derived from the Vostok ice-core dust record. During glacial periods, predicted magnitudes and timings of atmospheric CO2 changes match ice-core records well. At glacial terminations, the model suggests that forcing of Southern Ocean biota by iron caused the initial approximately 40 p.p.m. of glacial-interglacial CO2 change, but other mechanisms must have accounted for the remaining 40 p.p.m. increase. The experiment also confirms that modest sequestration of atmospheric CO2 by artificial additions of iron to the Southern Ocean is in principle possible, although the period and geographical extent over which sequestration would be effective remain poorly known.     

Reduced North Atlantic Deep Water flux to the glacial Southern Ocean inferred from neodymium isotope ratios

The global circulation of the oceans and the atmosphere transports heat around the Earth. Broecker and Denton suggested that changes in the global ocean circulation might have triggered or enhanced the glacial-interglacial cycles. But proxy data for past circulation taken from sediment cores in the South Atlantic Ocean have yielded conflicting interpretations of ocean circulation in glacial times--delta13C variations in benthic foraminifera support the idea of a glacial weakening or shutdown of North Atlantic Deep Water production, whereas other proxies, such as Cd/Ca, Ba/Ca and 231Pa/230Th ratios, show little change from the Last Glacial Maximum to the Holocene epoch. Here we report neodymium isotope ratios from the dispersed Fe-Mn oxide component of two southeast Atlantic sediment cores. Both cores show variations that tend towards North Atlantic signatures during the warm marine isotope stages 1 and 3, whereas for the full glacial stages 2 and 4 they are closer to Pacific Ocean signatures. We conclude that the export of North Atlantic Deep Water to the Southern Ocean has resembled present-day conditions during the warm climate intervals, but was reduced during the cold stages. An increase in biological productivity may explain the various proxy data during the times of reduced North Atlantic Deep Water export.     

Southern Ocean sea-ice extent, productivity and iron flux over the past eight glacial cycles

Sea ice and dust flux increased greatly in the Southern Ocean during the last glacial period. Palaeorecords provide contradictory evidence about marine productivity in this region, but beyond one glacial cycle, data were sparse. Here we present continuous chemical proxy data spanning the last eight glacial cycles (740,000 years) from the Dome C Antarctic ice core. These data constrain winter sea-ice extent in the Indian Ocean, Southern Ocean biogenic productivity and Patagonian climatic conditions. We found that maximum sea-ice extent is closely tied to Antarctic temperature on multi-millennial timescales, but less so on shorter timescales. Biological dimethylsulphide emissions south of the polar front seem to have changed little with climate, suggesting that sulphur compounds were not active in climate regulation. We observe large glacial-interglacial contrasts in iron deposition, which we infer reflects strongly changing Patagonian conditions. During glacial terminations, changes in Patagonia apparently preceded sea-ice reduction, indicating that multiple mechanisms may be responsible for different phases of CO2 increase during glacial terminations. We observe no changes in internal climatic feedbacks that could have caused the change in amplitude of Antarctic temperature variations observed 440,000 years ago.     

Short-circuiting of the overturning circulation in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current

The oceanic overturning circulation has a central role in the Earth's climate system and in biogeochemical cycling, as it transports heat, carbon and nutrients around the globe and regulates their storage in the deep ocean. Mixing processes in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current are key to this circulation, because they control the rate at which water sinking at high latitudes returns to the surface in the Southern Ocean. Yet estimates of the rates of these processes and of the upwelling that they induce are poorly constrained by observations. Here we take advantage of a natural tracer-release experiment-an injection of mantle helium from hydrothermal vents into the Circumpolar Current near Drake Passage-to measure the rates of mixing and upwelling in the current's intermediate layers over a sector that spans nearly one-tenth of its circumpolar path. Dispersion of the tracer reveals rapid upwelling along density surfaces and intense mixing across density surfaces, both occurring at rates that are an order of magnitude greater than rates implicit in models of the average Southern Ocean overturning. These findings support the view that deep-water pathways along and across density surfaces intensify and intertwine as the Antarctic Circumpolar Current flows over complex ocean-floor topography, giving rise to a short circuit of the overturning circulation in these regions.     

Episodic sediment accumulation on Amazonian flood plains influenced by El Niño/Southern Oscillation

Continental-scale rivers with a sandy bed sequester a significant proportion of their sediment load in flood plains. The spatial extent and depths of such deposits have been described, and flood-plain accumulation has been determined at decadal timescales, but it has not been possible to identify discrete events or to resolve deposition on near-annual timescales. Here we analyse (210)Pb activity profiles from sediment cores taken in the pristine Beni and Mamore river basins, which together comprise 720,000 km2 of the Amazon basin, to investigate sediment accumulation patterns in the Andean-Amazonian foreland. We find that in most locations, sediment stratigraphy is dominated by discrete packages of sediments of uniform age, which are typically 20-80 cm thick, with system-wide recurrence intervals of about 8 yr, indicating relatively rare episodic deposition events. Ocean temperature and stream flow records link these episodic events to rapidly rising floods associated with La Ni?a events, which debouch extraordinary volumes of sediments from the Andes. We conclude that transient processes driven by the El Ni?o/Southern Oscillation cycle control the formation of the Bolivian flood plains and modulate downstream delivery of sediments as well as associated carbon, nutrients and pollutants to the Amazon main stem.     

Rapid and early export of Phaeocystis antarctica blooms in the Ross Sea, Antarctica

The Southern Ocean is very important for the potential sequestration of carbon dioxide in the oceans and is expected to be vulnerable to changes in carbon export forced by anthropogenic climate warming. Annual phytoplankton blooms in seasonal ice zones are highly productive and are thought to contribute significantly to pCO2 drawdown in the Southern Ocean. Diatoms are assumed to be the most important phytoplankton class with respect to export production in the Southern Ocean; however, the colonial prymnesiophyte Phaeocystis antarctica regularly forms huge blooms in seasonal ice zones and coastal Antarctic waters. There is little evidence regarding the fate of carbon produced by P. antarctica in the Southern Ocean, although remineralization in the upper water column has been proposed to be the main pathway in polar waters. Here we present evidence for early and rapid carbon export from P. antarctica blooms to deep water and sediments in the Ross Sea. Carbon sequestration from P. antarctica blooms may influence the carbon cycle in the Southern Ocean, especially if projected climatic changes lead to an alteration in the structure of the phytoplankton community.