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ToolsCael, B. B., Moore, C. Mark, Guest, Joe, Jarníková, Tereza, Mouw, Colleen B., Bowler, Chris, Mawji, Edward, Henson, Stephanie A. and Le Quéré, Corinne (2024) A global ocean opal ballasting–silicate relationship. Geophysical Research Letters, 51 (19). ISSN 0094-8276
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Abstract
Opal and calcium carbonate are thought to regulate the biological pump's transfer of organic carbon to the deep ocean. A global sediment trap database exhibits large regional variations in the organic carbon flux associated with opal flux. These variations are well-explained by upper ocean silicate concentrations, with high opal ‘ballasting’ in the silicate-deplete tropical Atlantic Ocean, and low ballasting in the silicate-rich Southern Ocean. A plausible, testable hypothesis is that opal ballasting varies because diatoms grow thicker frustules where silicate concentrations are higher, carrying less organic carbon per unit opal. The observed pattern does not fully emerge in an advanced ocean biogeochemical model when diatom silicification is represented using a single global parameterization as a function of silicate and iron. Our results suggest a need for improving understanding of currently modeled processes and/or considering additional parameterizations to capture the links between elemental cycles and future biological pump changes.
| Item Type: | Article |
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| Additional Information: | Data Availability Statement: The data used for this study are available from (Garcia et al., 2019; Mouw et al., 2016) and the code for their analysis is available at (Cael, 2024). Numerical model documentation and output are available at (Buitenhuis et al., 2023). Funding information: Cael, Henson and Jarníková acknowledge support by the National Environmental Resarch Council (NERC) Grant NE/T010622/1 CELOS (Constraining the EvoLution of the southern Ocean carbon Sink). Cael, Guest, Henson, and Le Quéré acknowledge support from Schmidt Sciences via the Virtual Earth System Research Institute project CALIPSO. Le Quéré acknowledges support from the NERC Grant NE/V011103/1 Marine Frontiers. Guest acknowledges support from the Royal Society Grant RP.R1.191063. Bowler acknowldges support from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Diatomic; grant agreement No. 835067). |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | geophysics,earth and planetary sciences(all) ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1900/1908 |
| Faculty \ School: | Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences |
| Related URLs: | |
| Depositing User: | LivePure Connector |
| Date Deposited: | 18 Mar 2025 09:30 |
| Last Modified: | 28 Mar 2025 13:15 |
| URI: | https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/98774 |
| DOI: | 10.1029/2024GL110225 |
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