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The role of iron and light in controlling photosynthate production and allocation in phytoplankton populations of the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean was investigated in April-May 1999. The C-14 incorporation into five biochemical pools (glucan, amino acids, proteins, lipids and polysaccharides) was measured during iron/light perturbation experiments. The diurnal Chl a-specific rates of carbon incorporation into these pools did not change in response to iron addition, yet were decreased at 20 mumol photons m(-2) s(-1), an irradiance comparable with the one at 20-45 m in situ depth. This suggests that the low phytoplankton biomass encountered (0.1-0.6 mug Chl a L-1) was mainly caused by light limitation in the deep wind mixed layer (>40 m). Regional differences in Chl a-specific carbon incorporation rates were not found in spite of differences in phytoplankton species composition: at the Antarctic Polar Front, biomass was dominated by a diatom population of Fragilariopsis kerguelensis, whereas smaller cells, including chrysophytes, were relatively more abundant in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current beyond the influence of frontal systems. Because mixing was often in excess of 100 m in the latter region, diatom cells may have been unable to fulfil their characteristically high Fe demand at low average light conditions, and thus became co-limited by both resources. Using a model that describes the C-14 incorporation, the consistency was shown between the dynamics in the glucan pool in the field experiments and in laboratory experiments with an Antarctic diatom, Chaetoceros brevis. The glucan respiration rate was almost twice as high during the dark phase as during the light phase, which is consistent with the role of glucan as a reserve supplying energy and carbon skeletons for continued protein synthesis during the night.

Seston is suspended particulate organic matter, comprising a mixture of autotrophic, heterotrophic and detrital material. Despite variable proportions of these components, marine seston often exhibits relatively small deviations from the Redfield ratio (C:N:P = 106:16:1). Two time-series from the Norwegian shelf in Skagerrak are used to identify drivers of the seasonal variation in seston elemental ratios. An ordination identified water mass characteristics and bloom dynamics as the most important drivers for determining C:N, while changes in nutrient concentrations and biomass were most important for the C:P and N:P relationships. There is no standardized method for determining the functional composition of seston and the fractions of POC, PON and PP associated with phytoplankton, therefore any such information has to be obtained by indirect means. In this study, a generalized linear model was used to differentiate between the live autotrophic and non-autotrophic sestonic fractions, and for both stations the non-autotrophic fractions dominated with respective annual means of 76 and 55%. This regression model approach builds on assumptions (e.g. constant POC:Chl-a ratio) and the robustness of the estimates were explored with a bootstrap analysis. In addition the autotrophic percentage calculated from the statistical model was compared with estimated phytoplankton carbon, and the two independent estimates of autotrophic percentage were comparable with similar seasonal cycles. The estimated C:nutrient ratios of live autotrophs were, in general, lower than Redfield, while the non-autotrophic C:nutrient ratios were higher than the live autotrophic ratios and above, or close to, the Redfield ratio. This is due to preferential remineralization of nutrients, and the P content mainly governed the difference between the sestonic fractions. Despite the seasonal variability in seston composition and the generally low contribution of autotrophic biomass, the variation observed in the total seston ratios was low compared to the variation found in dissolved and particulate pools. Sestonic C:N:P ratios close to the Redfield ratios should not be used as an indicator of phytoplankton physiological state, but could instead reflect varying contributions of sestonic fractions that sum up to an elemental ratio close to Redfield.

Jickells, T.D. ... et. al.-- 34 pages, 6 tables, 10 figures We report the results of an experiment in the Northeast Atlantic in which sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) was released within an eddy and the behaviour of trace gases, nutrients and productivity followed within a Lagrangian framework over a period of 24 days. Measurements were also made in the air above the eddy in order to estimate air–sea exchange rates for some components. The physical, biological and biogeochemical properties of the eddy resemble those of other eddies studied in this area, suggesting that the results we report may be applicable beyond the specific eddy studied. During a period of low wind speed at the start of the experiment, we are able to quantitatively describe and balance the nutrient and carbon budgets for the eddy. We also report concentrations of various trace gases in the region which are similar to those observed in other studies and we estimate exchange rates for several trace gases. We show that the importance of gas exchange over other loss terms varies with time and also varies for the different gases. We show that the various trace gases considered (CO2, dimethyl sulphide (DMS), N2O, CH4, non-methane-hydrocarbons, methyl bromide, methyl iodide and volatile selenium species) are all influenced by physical and biological processes, but the overall distribution and temporal variability of individual gases are different to one another. A storm disrupted the stratification in the eddy during the experiment, resulting in enhanced nutrient supply to surface waters, enhanced gas exchange rates and a change in plankton community, which we quantify, although overall productivity was little changed. Emphasis is placed on the regularity of storms in the temperate ocean and the importance of these stochastic processes in such systems This is contribution no. ACP175 of the NERC ACSOE Thematic Programme. NERC grants GST/02/1276 supported the work of Jickells and Spokes, GST/02/1278 the work of Liss and Nightingale together with core funding to the Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) while the ACSOE core programme supported Broadgate and the shiptime costs, NERC grant GR9/3467 to G.S. supported Moncoiffé and Gilpin. Steinke was supported by NERC grant GR3/10956. The University of Newcastle upon Tyne Research Committee provided funding to support T. Frost. The work of Simó and Pedrós-Alió was supported by the Spanish McyT grant MAR97-1885-E