%ACael, B. [National Oceanography Centre Southampton UK, Center for Microbial Research and Education University of Hawai'i at Manoa Honolulu HI USA]%AWhite, Angelicque [Center for Microbial Research and Education University of Hawai'i at Manoa Honolulu HI USA]%BJournal Name: Geophysical Research Letters; Journal Volume: 47; Journal Issue: 15; Related Information: CHORUS Timestamp: 2023-09-01 20:30:41 %D2020%IDOI PREFIX: 10.1029 %JJournal Name: Geophysical Research Letters; Journal Volume: 47; Journal Issue: 15; Related Information: CHORUS Timestamp: 2023-09-01 20:30:41 %K %MOSTI ID: 10378299 %PMedium: X %TSinking Versus Suspended Particle Size Distributions in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre %XAbstract

The particle size distribution (PSD) is a fundamental property that influences all aspects of phytoplankton ecology. In particular, the size (e.g., diameterd[μm]) and sinking speedw(m/day) of individual particles are inextricable, but much remains unknown about howdandware related quantitatively for bulk particulate matter. There is significant interest in inferring sinking mass fluxes from PSDs, but doing so requires knowing how both mass andwscale withd. To this end, using both laser diffraction and imaging, we characterized for the first time both sinking and suspended PSDs in the oligotrophic North Pacific subtropical gyre. Comparing these PSDs via a power law parameterization indicates an approximately linearw‐to‐dscaling, suggesting particles are more fractal‐like than sphere‐like in this respect. This result is robust across multiple instruments, depths, and sediment trap deployments and is made comparatively precise by a high degree of replication.

%0Journal Article