Get started
Work

Production of organic and inorganic carbon within a large-scale coccolithophore bloom in the northeast Atlantic Ocean

Year: 1993
Type: article
Abstract: An extensive bloom (250 000 km2) of the coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi developed in the northeast Atlantic in June 1991.At the time of the observations in late June, the centre of the bloom was charactensed by low concentrations of chlorophyll a (c 1 mg n r 3 ) and particulate organic carbon (< 200 mg m'3) and high particulate inorganic carbon (PIC) p 3 0 0 mg m-3) values.Photosynthesisirradiance experiments carried out along the cruise track showed the existence of a negative exponential relationship between assimilation number (P!, , )and PIC.Significant rates of inorganic carbon incorporation were only measurable in surface waters at the periphery of the bloom and in subsurface waters north of 61" N. Calcification rates of up to 1.5 mg C m-3 h-' were measured.In general, a direct relationship was found between calcification rates and P: , , or chlorophyll a-normalized photosynthesis.Calcification-irradiance curves revealed that significant amounts of carbon were incorporated into coccoliths in darkness and also that, on some occasions, calcification in subsurface populations saturated at higher irradiances than in surface ones.An empirical model based on the biomass of E. huxleyi and CoccoLithus pelagicus and the beam attenuation coefficient accounted for a large proportion (> 70 %) of the variability in surface rates of calcification.Estimates of calcification rates derived from the model are consistent with previously reported data and compatible with the measured stocks of PIC and with the duration of the bloom as revealed by satellite imagery.
DOI: 10.3354/meps097271
Language: English
Subfield: Oceanography
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2053626010
FWCI: 12.18
Cites: 30
Cited by: 154
Related to: 10