Sorry, you need to enable JavaScript to visit this website.

Surface transport of DOC acts as a trophic link among Mediterranean sub-basins

TitoloSurface transport of DOC acts as a trophic link among Mediterranean sub-basins
Tipo di pubblicazioneArticolo su Rivista peer-reviewed
Anno di Pubblicazione2021
AutoriSantinelli, C., Iacono Roberto, Napolitano Ernesto, and M. d'Alcalà Ribera
RivistaDeep-Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers
ISSN09670637
Abstract

Lateral advection affects the spatial distribution of dissolved substances in the ocean but very few studies, so far, have been devoted to describe and quantify its impact on the distribution of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) which, in oligotrophic environments, accounts for the largest fraction of chemical energy. In this contribution, using an integrated approach, we explore the importance of surface advection on carbon dynamics in the Western Mediterranean Sea, where strong inter-basin differences in primary production do exist. Detailed information on the surface circulation, derived from high-resolution model simulations, is combined with the analysis of spatially resolved, accurate DOC vertical profiles, repeated over time. Our data show that surface circulation plays a crucial role in regulating DOC concentrations and distributions in the Tyrrhenian Sea and that horizontal transport of DOC into the Tyrrhenian Sea is of the same order of magnitude as in-situ DOC production. Our study addresses this process for the first time in the Mediterranean Sea, whose small size allows for fast, inter-basin transfer times which, in turn, favors the preservation of the DOC stock produced elsewhere. We highlight that this mechanism may be important also in other regions of the oceans, where surface advection may set up a sort of compensation among regions with different trophic regimes, thus smoothing trophic gradients. We posit that understanding these transport processes is a crucial and preliminary step to understand and quantify all the other processes (biological, chemical, geological) that influence DOC distribution on a variety of timescales. © 2021 Elsevier Ltd

Note

cited By 0

URLhttps://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85102845039&doi=10.1016%2fj.dsr.2021.103493&partnerID=40&md5=da7aa3f29c830b2cc2dcb87bc93b18ef
DOI10.1016/j.dsr.2021.103493
Citation KeySantinelli2021