Department of Earth System Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA.
Biology Department, Foothill College, Los Altos Hills, CA, 94022, USA.
Nat Commun. 2021 Feb 22;12(1):1211. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-21339-5.
Primary production in the Southern Ocean (SO) is limited by iron availability. Hydrothermal vents have been identified as a potentially important source of iron to SO surface waters. Here we identify a recurring phytoplankton bloom in the high-nutrient, low-chlorophyll waters of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current in the Pacific sector of the SO, that we argue is fed by iron of hydrothermal origin. In January 2014 the bloom covered an area of ~266,000 km with depth-integrated chlorophyll a > 300 mg m, primary production rates >1 g C m d, and a mean CO flux of -0.38 g C m d. The elevated iron supporting this bloom is likely of hydrothermal origin based on the recurrent position of the bloom relative to two active hydrothermal vent fields along the Australian Antarctic Ridge and the association of the elevated iron with a distinct water mass characteristic of a nonbuoyant hydrothermal vent plume.
南大洋（SO）的初级生产力受到铁供应的限制。热液喷口已被确定为 SO 表层水铁的潜在重要来源。在这里，我们在 SO 太平洋扇区的南极环极流高营养、低叶绿素水域中发现了周期性的浮游植物水华，我们认为这是由热液来源的铁供应的。2014 年 1 月，水华覆盖了约 266000 平方公里的区域，水深积分叶绿素 a>300mg/m，初级生产力速率>1g C m d，平均 CO 通量为-0.38g C m d。支持这种水华的高浓度铁可能来自热液，这是基于水华相对于澳大利亚南极脊沿线的两个活跃热液喷口场的位置以及铁的升高与一种非浮质热液喷口羽流特征的独特水团的关联。
