The interplay between regeneration and scavenging fluxes drives ocean iron cycling
Date
2019
Authors
Tagliabue, Alessandro
Bowie, Andrew
DeVries, Timothy
Ellwood, Michael
Landing, William M.
Milne, Angela
Ohnemus, Daniel C.
Twining, B.S.
Boyd, Phillip
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Macmillan Publishers Ltd
Abstract
Despite recent advances in observational data coverage, quantitative constraints on how
different physical and biogeochemical processes shape dissolved iron distributions remain
elusive, lowering confidence in future projections for iron-limited regions. Here we show that
dissolved iron is cycled rapidly in Pacific mode and intermediate water and accumulates at a
rate controlled by the strongly opposing fluxes of regeneration and scavenging. Combining
new data sets within a watermass framework shows that the multidecadal dissolved iron
accumulation is much lower than expected from a meta-analysis of iron regeneration fluxes.
This mismatch can only be reconciled by invoking significant rates of iron removal to balance
iron regeneration, which imply generation of authigenic particulate iron pools. Consequently,
rapid internal cycling of iron, rather than its physical transport, is the main control on
observed iron stocks within intermediate waters globally and upper ocean iron limitation will
be strongly sensitive to subtle changes to the internal cycling balance.
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Nature Communications
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Journal article
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Open Access
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