Impacts of meso and submesoscale dynamics on the horizontal dispersion of sinking particles from the surface to the deep ocean

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lu Wang ◽  
Jonathan Gula ◽  
Jeremy Collin ◽  
Laurent Memery
Keyword(s):  
General Structure ◽  
Finite Size ◽  
Deep Ocean ◽  
Sediment Traps ◽  
Horizontal Distribution ◽  
Particle Dispersion ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Transport Pathways ◽  
Horizontal Dispersion ◽  
Sinking Particles

<p>Energetic eddy fields generated by meso and submesoscale dynamics induce tridimensional particle transport pathways, which complicate the interpretation of observed Particulate Organic Carbon (POC) fluxes using sediment traps. It is therefore of importance to understand how horizontal dispersion of particles is structured by these dynamics from surface to depth. In this modelling study, we use a Lagrangian method to backtrack sinking particles collected at various depths ranging from 500 m to 4700 m at the PAP (Porcupine Abyssal Plain) site. Particle trajectories are computed using high-resolution simulations of the Regional Ocean Modelling System (ROMS). Our results show that the horizontal distribution of particles with sinking velocities below 100 m d<sup>-1</sup> presents a large small-scale heterogeneity. Mesoscale eddies act to define the general structure of particle patches while submesoscale features shape particle distributions through convergence/divergence processes. Distribution patterns of particles tracked from different depths suggest regime shifts of particle dispersion between subsurface layers. To identify and quantify these regimes, we perform 2d experiments at specific depths from 100 m to 4000 m and relate the Lagrangian statistics to the characteristics of the different dynamical regimes identified using vertical profiles of eddy energy and Finite Size Lyapunov Exponents (FSLE) approach.                                                                                                                                                               </p>

scholarly journals Biological composition and microbial dynamics of sinking particulate organic matter at abyssal depths in the oligotrophic open ocean

2019 ◽  
pp. 201903080 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominique Boeuf ◽  
Bethanie R. Edwards ◽  
John M. Eppley ◽  
Sarah K. Hu ◽  
Kirsten E. Poff ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Particulate Organic Matter ◽  
Deep Sea ◽  
Deep Ocean ◽  
Sediment Traps ◽  
Rrna Gene ◽  
North Pacific Subtropical Gyre ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
The North ◽  
Sinking Particles

Sinking particles are a critical conduit for the export of organic material from surface waters to the deep ocean. Despite their importance in oceanic carbon cycling and export, little is known about the biotic composition, origins, and variability of sinking particles reaching abyssal depths. Here, we analyzed particle-associated nucleic acids captured and preserved in sediment traps at 4,000-m depth in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. Over the 9-month time-series, Bacteria dominated both the rRNA-gene and rRNA pools, followed by eukaryotes (protists and animals) and trace amounts of Archaea. Deep-sea piezophile-like Gammaproteobacteria, along with Epsilonproteobacteria, comprised >80% of the bacterial inventory. Protists (mostly Rhizaria, Syndinales, and ciliates) and metazoa (predominantly pelagic mollusks and cnidarians) were the most common sinking particle-associated eukaryotes. Some near-surface water-derived eukaryotes, especially Foraminifera, Radiolaria, and pteropods, varied greatly in their abundance patterns, presumably due to sporadic export events. The dominance of piezophile-like Gammaproteobacteria and Epsilonproteobacteria, along with the prevalence of their nitrogen cycling-associated gene transcripts, suggested a central role for these bacteria in the mineralization and biogeochemical transformation of sinking particulate organic matter in the deep ocean. Our data also reflected several different modes of particle export dynamics, including summer export, more stochastic inputs from the upper water column by protists and pteropods, and contributions from sinking mid- and deep-water organisms. In total, our observations revealed the variable and heterogeneous biological origins and microbial activities of sinking particles that connect their downward transport, transformation, and degradation to deep-sea biogeochemical processes.

Projected Consequences of Dumping Sewage Sludge at a Deep Ocean Site near New York Bight

1983 ◽  
Vol 40 (S2) ◽  
pp. s228-s241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas P. O'Connor ◽  
Akira Okubo ◽  
Michael A. Champ ◽  
P. Kilho Park
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Sewage Sludge ◽  
Water Column ◽  
Biological Response ◽  
Deep Ocean ◽  
Sediment Traps ◽  
Open Ocean ◽  
Sediment Surface ◽  
Surface Mixed Layer ◽  
Horizontal Dispersion

Projections are made of the distribution of and biological response to New York/New Jersey sewage sludges if they are slowly discharged from barges at a deepwater location in annual volumes of 7 × 106 m3. We have used available information on sludge composition, dispersion of barge-dumped wastes, flow through the dumpsite, sewage sludge settling under quiescent conditions, rates of horizontal dispersion in the deep sea, chemical composition of open ocean water, ambient mass fluxes to the seafloor, sediment characteristics, bioturbation rates, and biological responses to sludge and its components. Within a 20-m surface mixed layer between the dumpsite and the Gulf Stream a chemical signal of dumping may be evident in iron, lead, zinc, chromium, and PCB concentrations. Water column contamination would appear to be less than necessary to affect planktonic organisms or fish. Seafloor contamination would be due primarily to sludge particles falling at 10−2 cm∙s−1 or faster. Allowing for bioturbation, the major sediment contaminants, PCB s and PAHs, could reach concentrations at the sediment surface of 0.2 and 0.3 μg∙g−1, respectively, after 100 yr. Concentrations of that order in shallow ocean benthic systems are not obviously related to altered benthic life. The strength of these projections would be increased with better understanding in many areas, especially on the effect of natural and barge-induced turbulence on particle flocculation and on rates of horizontal dispersion in the deep ocean. If sludge is dumped, the water column should be studied for chemical evidence of sludge and response of open ocean plankton. Arrays of sediment traps could be deployed to quantify the rate and areal extent of the settling sludge flux.

scholarly journals Reconciling Lagrangian Diffusivity and Effective Diffusivity in Contour-Based Coordinates

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (6) ◽  
pp. 1521-1539
Author(s):  
Yu-Kun Qian ◽  
Shiqiu Peng ◽  
Chang-Xia Liang
Keyword(s):  
Time Lag ◽  
Effective Diffusivity ◽  
Delta Function ◽  
Spreading Rate ◽  
Particle Dispersion ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Time Lags ◽  
Conservative Tracer ◽  
Stirring Effect ◽  
Short Time

AbstractThe present study reconciles theoretical differences between the Lagrangian diffusivity and effective diffusivity in a transformed spatial coordinate based on the contours of a quasi-conservative tracer. In the transformed coordinate, any adiabatic stirring effect, such as shear-induced dispersion, is naturally isolated from diabatic cross-contour motions. Therefore, Lagrangian particle motions in the transformed coordinate obey a transformed zeroth-order stochastic (i.e., random walk) model with the diffusivity replaced by the effective diffusivity. Such a stochastic model becomes the theoretical foundation on which both diffusivities are exactly unified. In the absence of small-scale diffusion, particles do not disperse at all in the transformed contour coordinate. Besides, the corresponding Lagrangian autocorrelation becomes a delta function and is thus free from pronounced overshoot and negative lobe at short time lags that may be induced by either Rossby waves or mesoscale eddies; that is, particles decorrelate immediately and Lagrangian diffusivity is already asymptotic no matter how small the time lag is. The resulting instantaneous Lagrangian spreading rate is thus conceptually identical to the effective diffusivity that only measures the instantaneous irreversible mixing. In these regards, the present study provides a new look at particle dispersion in contour-based coordinates.

scholarly journals Modeling the dynamical sinking of biogenic particles in oceanic flow

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 293-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro Monroy ◽  
Emilio Hernández-García ◽  
Vincent Rossi ◽  
Cristóbal López
Keyword(s):  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Finite Size ◽  
Equation Of Motion ◽  
Particle Dynamics ◽  
Particle Sizes ◽  
Small Particles ◽  
Physical Processes ◽  
Mesoscale Simulation ◽  
Sinking Particles ◽  
Theoretical Results

Abstract. We study the problem of sinking particles in a realistic oceanic flow, with major energetic structures in the mesoscale, focussing on the range of particle sizes and densities appropriate for marine biogenic particles. Our aim is to evaluate the relevance of theoretical results of finite size particle dynamics in their applications in the oceanographic context. By using a simplified equation of motion of small particles in a mesoscale simulation of the oceanic velocity field, we estimate the influence of physical processes such as the Coriolis force and the inertia of the particles, and we conclude that they represent negligible corrections to the most important terms, which are passive motion with the velocity of the flow, and a constant added vertical velocity due to gravity. Even if within this approximation three-dimensional clustering of particles can not occur, two-dimensional cuts or projections of the evolving three-dimensional density can display inhomogeneities similar to the ones observed in sinking ocean particles.

scholarly journals Equilibria and condensates in Rossby and drift wave turbulence

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Skipp ◽  
Sergey Nazarenko
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Finite Size ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Simple Explanation ◽  
Weakly Nonlinear ◽  
Zonal Flows ◽  
Drift Wave Turbulence ◽  
Third Invariant ◽  
Thermodynamic Potentials ◽  
Singular Limits

Abstract We study the thermodynamic equilibrium spectra of the Charney- Hasegawa-Mima (CHM) equation in its weakly nonlinear limit. In this limit, the equation has three adiabatic invariants, in contrast to the two invariants of the 2D Euler or Gross-Pitaevskii equations, which are examples for comparison. We explore how the third invariant considerably enriches the variety of equilibrium spectra that the CHM system can access. In particular we characterise the singular limits of these spectra in which condensates occur, i.e. a single Fourier mode (or pair of modes) accumulate(s) a macroscopic fraction of the total invariants. We show that these equilibrium condensates provide a simple explanation for the characteristic structures observed in CHM systems of finite size: highly anisotropic zonal flows, large-scale isotropic vortices, and vortices at small scale. We show how these condensates are associated with combinations of negative thermodynamic potentials (e.g. temperature).

scholarly journals Sinking particles promote vertical connectivity in the ocean microbiome

2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (29) ◽  
pp. E6799-E6807 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mireia Mestre ◽  
Clara Ruiz-González ◽  
Ramiro Logares ◽  
Carlos M. Duarte ◽  
Josep M. Gasol ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Surface Waters ◽  
Deep Ocean ◽  
Rrna Gene ◽  
Carbon Export ◽  
Size Fractions ◽  
Sinking Particles ◽  
Prokaryotic Diversity ◽  
Compositional Variability ◽  
Organic Particles ◽  
Community Connectivity

The sinking of organic particles formed in the photic layer is a main vector of carbon export into the deep ocean. Although sinking particles are heavily colonized by microbes, so far it has not been explored whether this process plays a role in transferring prokaryotic diversity from surface to deep oceanic layers. Using Illumina sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene, we explore here the vertical connectivity of the ocean microbiome by characterizing marine prokaryotic communities associated with five different size fractions and examining their compositional variability from surface down to 4,000 m across eight stations sampled in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans during the Malaspina 2010 Expedition. Our results show that the most abundant prokaryotes in the deep ocean are also present in surface waters. This vertical community connectivity seems to occur predominantly through the largest particles because communities in the largest size fractions showed the highest taxonomic similarity throughout the water column, whereas free-living communities were more isolated vertically. Our results further suggest that particle colonization processes occurring in surface waters determine to some extent the composition and biogeography of bathypelagic communities. Overall, we postulate that sinking particles function as vectors that inoculate viable particle-attached surface microbes into the deep-sea realm, determining to a considerable extent the structure, functioning, and biogeography of deep ocean communities.

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