Lecture 16 Oxygen distributions and ocean ventilation 华盛顿大学-海洋化学课件.pptVIP

Surface fingerprints: ventilation Surface fingerprints: export Tritium is a conservative tracer for water (as HTO) – thermocline penetration Meridional Section in the Pacific Eq OUR = AOU age Oxygen Utilization Rate: Deep Ocean Respiration Surface O2 Saturation Oxygen Distribution The fundamental motivation for this work: o2 effected by both physical and biological processes, so that changes in its distribution can provide info about changes in controlling processes. Also, relatively high quality historical data set with wide spatial coverage. Describe figure Define AOU * Lecture 16 Oxygen distributions and ocean ventilation Thermocline Ventilation and Deep Water Formation Oxygen Utilization rates Aerobic respiration Oxygen is consumed and nutrients are released. (CH2O)106(NH3)16(H3PO4) + 138 O2 Algal Protoplasm ? bacteria 106 CO2 + 16 HNO3 + H3PO4 + 122 H2O + trace elements The oxidation of the NH3 in organic matter to NO3 is referred to as nitrification Apparent Oxygen Utilization (AOU) Apparent Oxygen Utilization or AOU. AOU is defined as: AOU = O2 - O2 where: O2 = value of O2 the water would have if it was in equilibrium with the atmosphere at the temperature and salinity of the water. This is called saturation. This implies that all waters are in equilibrium with the atmosphere (100% saturated) when they sink to become the deep ocean water. O2 is the dissolved oxygen actually measured in the same water sample. Nutrients versus AOU Oxidative and Preformed Nutrients versus Depth 1 mol O2 = 106/138 mol CO2 + 16/138 mol HNO3 + 1/138 mol H3PO4 consumed = 0.77 CO2 + 0.12 HNO3 + 0.0072 H3PO4 But vertical profiles are not the best way to study this problem. The Ocean Conveyor What is it conveying? (at the surface? and at depth?) Meridional Overturning Sinking and Remineralization Remineralization keeps the biological pump pumping! Winter Outcr