The Angola Gyre is a hotspot of dinitrogen fixation in the South Atlantic Ocean

Biological dinitrogen fixation is the major source of new nitrogen to marine systems and thus essential to the ocean's biological pump. Constraining the distribution and global rate of dinitrogen fixation has proven challenging owing largely to uncertainty surrounding the controls thereon. Existing South Atlantic dinitrogen fixation rate estimates vary five-fold, with models attributing most dinitrogen fixation to the western basin. From hydrographic properties and nitrate isotope ratios, we show that the Angola Gyre in the eastern tropical South Atlantic supports the fixation of 1.4-5.4 Tg N.a(-1), 28-108% of the existing (highly uncertain) estimates for the basin. Our observations contradict model diagnoses, revealing a substantial input of newly-fixed nitrogen to the tropical eastern basin and no dinitrogen fixation west of 7.5W. We propose that dinitrogen fixation in the South Atlantic occurs in hotspots controlled by the overlapping biogeography of excess phosphorus relative to nitrogen and bioavailable iron from margin sediments. Similar conditions may promote dinitrogen fixation in analogous ocean regions. Our analysis suggests that local iron availability causes the phosphorus-driven coupling of oceanic dinitrogen fixation to nitrogen loss to vary on a regional basis. Between 28 and 100% of nitrogen fixation in the South Atlantic occurs within the Angola Gyre and is potentially fuelled by supply of bioavailable iron from margin sediments and excess phosphorus, according to an analysis of observational hydrographic data and nitrate isotope ratios.

Automated summary

Biological dinitrogen fixation is crucial to the ocean's biological pump, but understanding its distribution and rate has been challenging due to uncertainty surrounding the controls. This study shows that the Angola Gyre in the eastern tropical South Atlantic is a hotspot for dinitrogen fixation, contradicting previous models. These findings suggest that the availability of iron and excess phosphorus from margin sediments play a key role in promoting dinitrogen fixation in this region.