JGOFS 8/00 Final
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U.S. JGOFS: A Component of the U.S. Global Change Research Program U.S. JGOFS NEWS Volume 10, Number 4 August 2000 Incorporating Iron into a Global Ecosystem Model Assessing The Progress by J. Keith Moore and Scott C. Doney Of JGOFS: Highlights ne of the main goals of JGOFS is We have developed a marine eco- Oto gain a better understanding system model that does just that, Of The Open Science of the processes controlling carbon building on the data collected during Conference cycling and export in marine ecosys- U.S. JGOFS and other field studies, tems. A major finding from the pro- such as the iron fertilization experi- by Margaret C. Bowles cess studies and time series stations is ments (IronEx) conducted in the that nitrogen available in the eu- equatorial Pacific. Because it incorpo- ver the 13 years since it was photic zone is often not the sole fac- rates iron dynamics, the model is able launched, JGOFS has sponsored O tor controlling carbon export. Phy- to reproduce the high nutrient, low several science symposia that have of- toplankton growth, export produc- chlorophyll (HNLC) conditions ob- fered opportunities to assess both the tion and community structure appear served in the subarctic Northeast Pa- progress of the program itself and the to be governed by the availability of cific, the equatorial Pacific and the evolution of ocean biogeochemistry both the macronutrients (nitrate, Southern Ocean. as a discipline. As knowledge about phosphate and silicate) and the mi- The numerical model has two size the ocean’s role in global carbon cy- cronutrient iron. classes of phytoplankton, one class of cling and the response of its systems Ocean biogeochemistry models zooplankton, sinking and non-sink- to environmental perturbations has must allow for spatial and temporal ing detrital pools, and the nutrients grown, the scope of the endeavor has variations among potentially limiting nitrate, ammonia, dissolved iron and broadened considerably. nutrients in order to capture marine silicate. It does not contain phospho- Some 100 scientists from 13 coun- ecosystem dynamics. We need to ac- rus at present, although we plan to tries convened in Washington, D.C., count for the effect of iron in particu- incorporate it in the near future. The in 1990 to assess the first JGOFS field lar on production, community struc- model includes a dissolved iron pool study in the North Atlantic. The sec- ture and carbon export to the deep as a nutrient for phytoplankton with ond symposium, held in Villefranche- ocean if models are to be able to pre- sub-surface and atmospheric sources, sur-mer midway through the program dict how climate change might influ- the latter representing the deposition in 1995, attracted nearly 150 partici- ence ocean biogeochemistry. of mineral dust. pants from 20 countries. In April, 218 participants from 27 countries came BATS (64.16W, 31.83N) HOT (158W, 22.75N) STNP (145W, 50N) to Bergen, located amid the fjords of 1.0 0.50 20 0.8 0.40 western Norway, for the third sympo- 15 0.6 0.30 sium to be held under JGOFS aus- 10 0.4 0.20 pices. Like its predecessors, this con- 5 0.2 0.10 ference offered participants the 0.0 0.00 0 ) ARAB (62E, 16N) EQPAC (140W, 0N) ROSS (180W, 76S) chance to measure the advance of sci- 3 12 12 30 entific knowledge against the ques- 10 10 25 tions that JGOFS was formed to ad- 8 8 20 6 6 15 dress. 4 4 10 The Bergen conference was orga- 2 2 5 0 0 0 nized by Michael Fasham of NABE (19W, 47N) KERFIX (68.42E, 50.67S) PFR (170W, 61.5S) (mmol N/m Southampton Oceanography Centre, 30 30 15 U.K., Karin Lochte of the Institut für 25 Ostseeforschung, Germany, and 10 25 Roger Hanson of the JGOFS Interna- 5 20 20 tional Project Office (IPO) in Bergen. 0 15 15 It was sponsored by the Scientific Model Nitrate square, In situ plus Committee on Oceanic Research Figure 1: Monthly mixed-layer nitrate concentrations at nine ocean sites. Squares represent modeled values, and crosses represent composites of measurements made (Cont. on page 10) at these sites. Some composites are multi-year, and some are not. The large phytoplankton size class (ARAB), the equatorial Pacific ing nutrient. Nutrients required by in the model is designed to represent (EQPAC), the North Atlantic Bloom diatoms are replete in less than one diatoms explicitly. Diatom growth Experiment (NABE), the KERFIX time- percent of the global ocean. rates can be limited by nitrogen in series station in the Southern Ocean In our modeling simulation, the form of nitrate or ammonia, iron, (KERFIX), the Ross Sea (ROSS), and growth is limited by iron in the silica and/or available light. The the Antarctic Polar Front region (PFR). HNLC regions and by nitrogen in the growth rates of the generic small phy- Figure 1 shows modeled monthly mid-ocean gyres for both the large toplankton in the model can be lim- mixed-layer nitrate concentrations and the small phytoplankton. Sub- ited by nitrogen, iron and/or avail- (squares) compared with composites stantial portions of the equatorial re- able light. The small phytoplankton of in-situ measurements at the JGOFS gions and some high-latitude areas have lower half-saturation constants sites. Nitrate is depleted all year at the exhibit silica limitation for the dia- for nutrient uptake and experience HOT site and seasonally depleted at toms. The few areas in which there stronger grazing pressure than the the BATS and NABE sites. Persistently are always sufficient nutrients for dia- diatoms. Otherwise growth and light moderate to high nitrate concentra- toms are primarily those with heavy parameters for the two phytoplank- tions exist in the HNLC regions of ice cover and strong light limitation. ton classes are identical. the North Pacific, equatorial Pacific Nutrients are replete for the small The model is currently being run and the Southern Ocean. Nitrate is phytoplankton, on the other hand, on a simple global mixed- over nearly 20% of the layer grid where the forcing ocean, mainly in lower lati- factors include sea-surface tudes. Strong grazing pres- temperature, surface radia- sure prevents small phy- tion, mixed-layer depth, ver- toplankton blooms and thus tical velocity at the base of nutrient depletion in most the mixed layer, percent sea- of these areas. Iron limita- ice cover and atmospheric tion for the small phy- iron deposition from mineral toplankton occurs in dust. Atmospheric transport roughly 51% of the total model estimates of dust surface ocean. deposition are used to gener- Our results suggest that ate the input fields of iron these patterns of nutrient from the atmosphere. Sub- limitation are strongly influ- surface nutrient fields, sur- enced by atmospheric iron face radiation, sea surface deposition and thus may be temperature and mixed-layer altered by climatic or an- depths are derived from cli- Figure 2: Modeling simulation of iron limitation (grey areas) on thropogenic processes that matological databases. Plans diatom growth in surface waters during summer. affect the transport and call for the eventual incorpo- deposition of mineral dust ration of this ecosystem model into not depleted in these areas in the over the oceans. Sinking particulate the three-dimensional (3D) climate/ model because of strong iron limita- carbon export and primary produc- ocean model at the National Center tion of diatom growth and strong tion in the model are also sensitive for Atmospheric Research. grazing control of small phytoplank- to variations in the atmospheric Mixed-layer averages of in-situ data ton biomass, which is consistent with iron source. from a number of JGOFS study sites in-situ observations. The phytoplankton assemblage in have been compiled for comparison Figure 2 shows a modeling simula- the HNLC regions is typically domi- with the results of modeling simula- tion of patterns of iron limitation on nated by the small phytoplankton. tions. These mixed-layer mean values diatom growth in surface waters in Increasing iron inputs from atmo- from the JGOFS sites can be obtained summer (June through August in the spheric sources eventually shift this via the U.S. JGOFS Synthesis and Northern Hemisphere and December pattern to an assemblage dominated Modeling Project (SMP) home page. through February in the Southern by the larger diatoms, sharply in- We have been comparing model out- Hemisphere). In the regions shown in creasing the sinking particulate flux put with data from the Hawaii Ocean grey, representing roughly 42% of the out of the mixed layer. These patterns Time-series (HOT) station, the Ber- global ocean, diatom growth is lim- are consistent with field observations muda Atlantic Time Series (BATS) sta- ited by iron in the summer months. in the HNLC regions and suggest that tion, the subarctic Northeast Pacific In almost 40% of the ocean, nitrogen this relatively simple ecosystem mod- site at Station PAPA (STNP), the Ara- limits diatom growth, and in almost el is reliably capturing phytoplankton bian Sea at the U.S. JGOFS station S7 18% of the ocean, silica is the limit- bloom dynamics in these areas.❖ 2 U.S. JGOFS Newsletter – August 2000 Expanding Scope Of U.S. JGOFS SMP Shown At Annual Meeting by Scott C. Doney and Joanie A. Kleypas he expanding scope of the U.S. the vertical transport of particulate the comprehensive framework for TJGOFS Synthesis and Modeling organic matter into the deep ocean. evaluating ocean models as part of Project (SMP) was evident at its an- Armstrong is currently developing a the international Ocean Carbon nual meeting for principal investiga- new modeling framework from this Model Intercomparison Project tors, held this year at Woods Hole “bottom-up” perspective.