COCCOLITHOPHORID DISTRIBUTION AND ALKENONE BIOMARKER CHARACTERISATION FROM THE TROPICAL-EQUATORIAL ATLANTIC
Patrizia Ziveri(1), Annelies Kleijne(1), Hanno Kinkel(2),
Maureen Conte(3), & John Weber(3)
1 Faculty of Earth Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2 Dept. of Marine Biogeochemistry & Toxicology, Nederlands Institut voor Onderzoek der Zee, Texel.
3 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543
Equatorial upwellings in all oceans are known to be a source of CO2 for the atmosphere. This CO2 source is highly variable depending on the strength of the upwelling and resultant biological activity.
The present study is part of a larger program that conducts an extensive survey of carbon properties in the Tropical Atlantic Ocean, in order to better characterise and model carbon distribution and air/sea fluxes in this region. Water samples were collected during a cruise from Recife, Brazil, to Capo Verde, Senegal, (November - December 1998) water samples were collected from the Sierra Leone Rise to the Capo Verde Plateau for carbon chemistry, alkenone isotopic fractionation and coccolithophorid alkenone-synthesizing species distribution.
First results based on alkenone data show a distinct difference below the equator in UK'37 versus temperatures and a very tight correlation for samples above this. The alkenone concentration are highest in the low salinity/high temp region.
Data on alkenone-synthesizing species E. huxleyi and G. oceanica, and total coccolithophorid standing crop will be presented and compare with nutrient concentration, isotopic fractionation of alkenone biomarkers.
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