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Metabolic balance in the mixed layer of the oligotrophic North Pacific Ocean from diel changes in O 2 /Ar saturation ratios
Author(s) -
Ferrón Sara,
Wilson Samuel T.,
MartínezGarcía Sandra,
Quay Paul D.,
Karl David M.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2015gl063555
Subject(s) - diel vertical migration , ocean gyre , oceanography , saturation (graph theory) , environmental science , atmospheric sciences , geology , subtropics , biology , ecology , combinatorics , mathematics
In situ measurements were made to determine oxygen (O 2 ) metabolic balance in the upper oligotrophic ocean from diel changes in O 2 to argon (Ar) ratios. The study took place during 13–24 March 2014, at the Hawaii Ocean Time‐series Station ALOHA (A Long‐term Oligotrophic Habitat Assessment), in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. Microbial community respiration and gross O 2 production, estimated from in situ diel changes in O 2 /Ar saturation, agreed well with those calculated using other independent methods. Net oxygen production (NOP), estimated from in situ diel changes in O 2 /Ar saturation, showed large day‐to‐day variability. However, when averaged over the entire observational period, mean diel NOP was in relatively good agreement with the estimated mean steady state NOP (9.2 ± 9.3 mmol O 2 m −2 d −1 compared to 11.7 ± 1.1 mmol O 2 m −2 d −1 , respectively).