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The nature of colored dissolved material (CDM) light attenuation was characterized and its seasonal cycles in relation to hydrographic and biogeochemical processes in the Sargasso Sea were defined. Findings showed that CDM absorption made up an average of more than one-half of the total non-water absorption coefficient, while detrital particulate absorption was generally a minor constituent. The vertically integrated stock of CDM increased from the beginning of spring until the end of summer in 1994 and 1995. Near-surface values were depressed near the surface during summer.

The use of sediment traps over the past 20 years has provided oceanographers with information about the transport of metabolic energy and matter to the deep ocean. However, the interpretation of results is complicated by spatial variability in overlying waters. A new study uses Lagrangian analysis to investigate the characteristics of statistical funnels above a moored sediment trap array in the Sargasso Sea. A model of the trajectories that individual particles take before collection is also presented.

The article presents a recomputation of sinking particle trajectories in the Sargasso Sea. Sea surface particle origins were expressed as functions of sinking speed and trap depth. Adjustments made to original findings due to this recomputation are also discussed.