Remineralization ratios in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current using profiling float data

Anna E Simpson, Oregon State University, CEOAS, Corvallis, OR, United States, Sarah T Gille, UCSD, La Jolla, CA, United States, Matthew R Mazloff, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States and Ellen Briggs, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA, United States
Abstract:
Biogeochemical data are analyzed from two profiling floats deployed in the Southern Ocean as part of the Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate Modeling (SOCCOM) project. The data are evaluated to determine the correlation between nitrate and oxygen for the depth range below the mixed layer within the South Pacific sector of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Seasonal and spatial variability in the ratio of nitrate to oxygen has also been evaluated. The SOCCOM dataset is significant because it is the first time series from the Southern Ocean with nitrate, pH, and other biogeochemical data. The oxygen to nitrate remineralization ratio provides a measure of the cycling of carbon and other biogeochemical variables. Float 9095 had an O:N ratio of 7 with a statistically significant correlation; however the ratio is lower than the ratio of 10 obtained in previous studies. Float 9031 did not show a significant correlation. Analysis of the temperature, salinity and density properties showed that staying in the same water mass is required to isolate the remineralization correlation signal between nitrate and oxygen.
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