Journal
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
Volume 48, Issue 6, Pages -Publisher
AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION
DOI: 10.1029/2020GL091403
Keywords
eddy; iron; North Atlantic; primary productivity; phytoplankton; upwelling
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Funding
- Marie Sklodowska-Curie Postdoctoral European Fellowship [658035]
- Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research
- German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, cooperative project REEBUS [03F0815 A]
- Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) [NE/M017990/1]
- Marie Curie Actions (MSCA) [658035] Funding Source: Marie Curie Actions (MSCA)
- NERC [NE/M017990/1] Funding Source: UKRI
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This study found that iron supply and proximity to shelf iron sources are important factors regulating productivity and macronutrient utilization in mid-latitude North Atlantic cyclonic eddies.
Cyclonic ocean eddies drive upwelling of deep waters enhanced in nutrients, which can elevate phytoplankton productivity. At mid-latitudes in the North Atlantic, satellite images show enhanced chlorophyll-a associated with eddies. However, surface macronutrient concentrations are often not fully depleted in this region, implying enhanced macronutrient supply is not the primary control. We conducted high resolution sampling through two mid-latitude Atlantic eddies in late spring, located 800 and 350 km east of the Newfoundland Grand Banks. Waters outside of both eddies had unused residual macronutrients, low dissolved iron, and iron-stressed phytoplankton. Inside both eddies, plankton biomass was higher and macronutrient concentrations lower. However, full macronutrient drawdown and an absence of iron stress were only present in the eddy nearer the continental shelf. From these two examples, iron supply and proximity to shelf iron sources appear to be important factors regulating productivity and macronutrient utilization in mid-latitude North Atlantic cyclonic eddies.
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