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Substantial energy input to the mesopelagic ecosystem from the seasonal mixed-layer pump

Nature Geoscience volume 9, pages 820–823 (2016)Cite this article

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Abstract

The ocean region known as the mesopelagic zone, which is at depths of about 100–1,000 m, harbours one of the largest ecosystems and fish stocks on the planet1,2. Life in this region is believed to rely on particulate organic carbon supplied by the biological carbon pump3. Yet this supply appears insufficient to meet mesopelagic metabolic demands4,5,6. An additional organic carbon source to the mesopelagic zone could be provided by the seasonal entrainment of surface waters in deeper layers, a process known as the mixed-layer pump7,8,9,10,11. Little is known about the magnitude and spatial distribution of this process globally or its potential to transport carbon to the mesopelagic zone. Here we combine mixed-layer depth data from Argo floats with satellite estimates of particulate organic carbon concentrations to show that the mixed-layer pump supplies an important seasonal flux of organic carbon to the mesopelagic zone. We estimate that this process is responsible for a global flux of 0.1–0.5 Pg C yr−1. In high-latitude regions where the mixed layer is usually deep, this flux amounts on average to 23% of the carbon supplied by fast sinking particles, but it can be greater than 100%. We conclude that the seasonal mixed-layer pump is an important source of organic carbon for the mesopelagic zone.

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Figure 1: Schematic representation of the seasonal mixed-layer pump.
Figure 2: Relationship between winter mixed-layer depth and export by the mixed-layer pump.
Figure 3: Comparison between mixed-layer pump and biological pump.

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Acknowledgements

Temperature and salinity data were collected and made freely available by the International Argo Program and the national programmes that contribute to it (http://www.argo.ucsd.edu, http://argo.jcommops.org). The Argo Program is part of the Global Ocean Observing System. For their roles in producing, coordinating, and making available the CMIP5 model output, we acknowledge the climate modelling groups at NOAA-GFDL and at the UK MetOffice Hadley Centre, the World Climate Research Programme’s (WCRP) Working Group on Coupled Modelling (WGCM), and the Global Organization for Earth System Science Portals (GO-ESSP). M. J. Behrenfeld is thanked for providing insightful comments on a first draft of this manuscript. D. Siegel and S. Henson are thanked for providing their results used for preparing Fig. 3. R. Dall’Olmo is acknowledged for help in preparing Fig. 1. G.D.O. and R.J.W.B. acknowledge funding from the UK National Centre for Earth Observation, UK NERC grant NE/L012855/1 and Marie Curie FP7-PIRG08-GA-2010-276812. L.P. was funded through (UK) NERC National Capability in Sustained Observations and Marine Modelling. H.C. acknowledges funding from the European Research Council for the remOcean project (GA 246777). Earth Observation data were supplied by the NERC EO Data Acquisition and Analysis Service. This work is a contribution to the Ocean Colour Climate Change Initiative of the European Space Agency. G.D.O. and H.C. acknowledge funding from H2020 ATLANTOS EU project (GA 633211).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Prospect Place, The Hoe, Plymouth PL1 3DH, UK

    Giorgio Dall'Olmo, James Dingle, Luca Polimene & Robert J. W. Brewin

  2. National Centre for Earth Observations, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Prospect Place, The Hoe, Plymouth PL1 3DH, UK

    Giorgio Dall'Olmo & Robert J. W. Brewin

  3. Hjort Centre for Marine Ecosystem Dynamics, PO Box 1870, Nordnes, 5817 Bergen, Norway

    Giorgio Dall'Olmo

  4. Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Université Paris 06, UMR 7093, Laboratoire d’Océanographie de Villefranche, 06230 Villefranche-sur-Mer, France

    Hervé Claustre

Authors
  1. Giorgio Dall'Olmo
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Contributions

G.D.O. designed the study. G.D.O. and J.D. conducted the data analysis. G.D.O., L.P., R.J.W.B. interpreted the results and wrote the manuscript. H.C. provided Bio-Argo data. All authors commented on the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Giorgio Dall'Olmo.

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Dall'Olmo, G., Dingle, J., Polimene, L. et al. Substantial energy input to the mesopelagic ecosystem from the seasonal mixed-layer pump. Nature Geosci 9, 820–823 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2818

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