Primary productivity and particle fluxes on a transect of the equator at 153°W in the Pacific Ocean

Abstract Primary productivity (14C) and mass flux measurements using a free-drifting sediment trap deployed at 900 m were made at four stations in the Pacific Ocean between 12°N and 6°S at 153°W. The latitudinal variations in productivity were consistent with historical patterns showing the equator as a zone of high production and the oligotrophic waters north of the equatorial region as an area of low productivity. The correlation coefficient between the two sets of independent measurements was 0.999, indicating that in this oceanic area the activity of the primary producers was closely related to the total mass flux. A re-examination of historical data suggests that the downward flux of particulate organic carbon varies in direct proportion to the quotient of surface primary production raised to the 1.4 power and depth raised to the 0.63 power.

[1]  E. Laws,et al.  Appropriate use of regression analysis in marine biology , 1981 .

[2]  S. Fitzwater,et al.  Metal contamination and its effect on primary production measurements1 , 1982 .

[3]  D. Ketten,et al.  The chemistry, biology, and vertical flux of particulate matter from the upper 400 m of the equatorial Atlantic Ocean , 1977 .

[4]  D. Karl,et al.  Deep-Sea Primary Production at the Galapagos Hydrothermal Vents , 1980, Science.

[5]  O. J. Koblentz-Mishke.  Plankton primary production of the world ocean. , 1970 .

[6]  W. G. Deuser,et al.  Seasonality in the supply of sediment to the deep Sargasso Sea and implications for the rapid transfer of matter to the deep ocean , 1981 .

[7]  J. Waterbury,et al.  Prokaryotic Cells in the Hydrothermal Vent Tube Worm Riftia pachyptila Jones: Possible Chemoautotrophic Symbionts. , 1981, Science.

[8]  P. Bienfang,et al.  Light effects on nutrient-limited, oceanic primary production , 1977 .

[9]  H. Craig,et al.  Excess 3He in deep water on the East Pacific Rise , 1975 .

[10]  Kenneth W. Bruland,et al.  Fluxes of particulate carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus in the upper water column of the northeast Pacific , 1979 .

[11]  R. Iverson,et al.  Loss of radiocarbon in direct use of Aquasol for liquid scintillation counting of solutions containing 14C‐NaHCO31 , 1976 .

[12]  V. Gordeev,et al.  Hydrothermally-derived manganese suspended over the Galapagos Spreading Center , 1978 .

[13]  K. Bruland,et al.  Monitoring the marine environment through sedimentation , 1977, Nature.

[14]  Erwin Suess,et al.  Particulate organic carbon flux in the oceans—surface productivity and oxygen utilization , 1980, Nature.

[15]  P. Bienfang.  Phytoplankton sinking rates in oligotrophic waters off Hawaii, USA , 1980 .

[16]  J. McCarthy,et al.  Isotope dilution models of uptake and remineralization of ammonium by marine plankton1 , 1982 .

[17]  G. A. Knauer,et al.  Zooplankton fecal pellet fluxes and vertical transport of particulate organic material in the pelagic environment , 1981 .

[18]  J. Farrington,et al.  Deep Advective Transport of Lithogenic Particles in Panama Basin , 1982, Science.

[19]  T. Parsons.  On the Pigment Composition of Eleven Species of Marine Phytoplankters , 1961 .

[20]  J. Goering,et al.  UPTAKE OF NEW AND REGENERATED FORMS OF NITROGEN IN PRIMARY PRODUCTIVITY1 , 1967 .

[21]  E. Nielsen,et al.  Measurements with the carbon-14 technique of the respiration rates in natural populations of phytoplankton , 1958 .

[22]  J. Ryther.  Photosynthesis and fish production in the sea. , 1969, Science.

[23]  G. Rau.  Hydrothermal Vent Clam and Tube Worm 13C/12C: Further Evidence of Nonphotosynthetic Food Sources. , 1981, Science.

[24]  David M. Karl,et al.  Vertical distribution, transport, and exchange of carbon in the northeast Pacific Ocean: evidence for multiple zones of biological activity , 1984 .

[25]  I. N. McCave.  Vertical flux of particles in the ocean , 1975 .

[26]  K. Carder,et al.  Particle transport from the West African shelves of Liberia and Sierra Leone to the deep sea: A chemical approach , 1980 .

[27]  W. G. Deuser,et al.  Seasonal change in the flux of organic carbon to the deep Sargasso Sea , 1980, Nature.

[28]  B. Peterson,et al.  Particulate organic matter flux and planktonic new production in the deep ocean , 1979, Nature.