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Theory suggests that the ocean’s biological carbon pump, the process by which organic matter is produced at the surface and transferred to the deep ocean, is sensitive to temperature because temperature controls photosynthesis and respiration rates. We applied a combined data-modeling approach to investigate carbon and nutrient recycling rates across the world ocean over the past 15 million years of global cooling. We found that the efficiency of the biological carbon pump increased with ocean cooling as the result of a temperature-dependent reduction in the rate of remineralization (degradation) of sinking organic matter. Increased food delivery at depth prompted the development of new deep-water niches, triggering deep plankton evolution and the expansion of the mesopelagic “twilight zone” ecosystem.
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Drawdown of Atmospheric pCO 2 Via Variable Particle Flux Stoichiometry in the Ocean Twilight Zone
Abstract The strength of the biological soft tissue pump in the ocean critically depends on how much organic carbon is produced via photosynthesis and how efficiently the carbon is transferred to the ocean interior. For a given amount of limiting nutrient, phosphate, soft tissue pump would be strengthened if the carbon (C) to phosphorus (P) ratio of sinking organic matter increases as the remineralization length scale of C increases. Here, we present a new data compilation of particle flux stoichiometry and show that C:P of sinking particulate organic matter (POM) in the ocean twilight zone on average is likely to be higher than the C:P ratio of surface suspended POM. We further demonstrate using a physics‐biology coupled global ocean model combined with a theory from first principles that an increase in C:P export flux ratio in the ocean's twilight zone can lead to a considerable drawdown of atmosphericpCO2.
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- PAR ID:
- 10366658
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.1029
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Geophysical Research Letters
- Volume:
- 48
- Issue:
- 22
- ISSN:
- 0094-8276
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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