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A high resolution transect of dissolved barium in the Southern Ocean
Author(s) -
Jacquet S. H. M.,
Dehairs F.,
Rintoul S.
Publication year - 2004
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 - 10.1029/2004gl020016
Subject(s) - polar front , oceanography , geology , circumpolar deep water , transect , water mass , front (military) , mesopelagic zone , biogeochemical cycle , water column , antarctic bottom water , oxygen minimum zone , bottom water , deep sea , thermohaline circulation , north atlantic deep water , pelagic zone , upwelling , chemistry , environmental chemistry
The dissolved Barium (Ba d ) distribution in the whole water column was examined along the WOCE SR3 line in the Southern Ocean (Australian sector, late winter‐spring 2001). The high sampling resolution offered an excellent opportunity to relate the Ba d distribution to frontal structures and the water masses. Such a high resolution was not achieved in previous Southern Ocean studies and showed the tight overprinting of the frontal zones by Ba d gradients. Hydrodynamic control on Ba d is evident in the case of Antarctic Bottom Water formation, westward flow of Tasman Sea waters and return flow of an eddy of the SubAntarctic Front. However biogeochemical processes are also acting, as witnessed by enhanced Ba d contents in deep waters of the SubAntarctic Front zone and by a local mesopelagic minimum in the Inter Polar Front Zone. These features are respectively ascribed to the dissolution of Ba‐rich phases and Ba transfer from solution to particles.