Biogeosciences, 11, 1371–1391, 2014 Open Access www.biogeosciences.net/11/1371/2014/ doi:10.5194/bg-11-1371-2014 Biogeosciences © Author(s) 2014. CC Attribution 3.0 License. Exploring interacting influences on the silicon isotopic composition of the surface ocean: a case study from the Kerguelen Plateau N. Coffineau, C. L. De La Rocha, and P. Pondaven Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer, CNRS UMR6539, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Plouzané, France Correspondence to: N. Coffineau (nathalie.coffi
[email protected]) Received: 28 June 2013 – Published in Biogeosciences Discuss.: 10 July 2013 Revised: 30 November 2013 – Accepted: 21 January 2014 – Published: 12 March 2014 Abstract. This study presents six new water column profiles Finally, the choice for the parameterisation of the mixing be- of the silicon isotopic composition (δ30Si) of dissolved sili- tween the ML and the WW in terms of δ30Si (i.e. constant or con (DSi) from the Atlantic and Indian sectors of the South- allowed to vary with the seasonal migration of the thermo- ern Ocean and a variable depth box model of silica cycling cline) is critical to take into account in box model simulations in the mixed layer that was constructed to illuminate the evo- of the silica biogeochemical cycle. Altogether, these results lution of surface ocean δ30Si over the full course of a year. suggest that as a paleoceanographic proxy, δ30Si may more In keeping with previous observations, δ30Si values ranged reflect the dominant mode of production of the BSi that is from +1.9 to +2.4 ‰ in the mixed layer (ML), +1.2 to exported (i.e.