@article{ece0fd63d05648f5a1ee0469d61f5341,
title = "Nitrogen isotopic constraints on nutrient transport to the upper ocean",
abstract = "Ocean circulation supplies the surface ocean with the nutrients that fuel global ocean productivity. However, the mechanisms and rates of water and nutrient transport from the deep ocean to the upper ocean are poorly known. Here, we use the nitrogen isotopic composition of nitrate to place observational constraints on nutrient transport from the Southern Ocean surface into the global pycnocline (roughly the upper 1.2 km), as opposed to directly from the deep ocean. We estimate that 62 ± 5% of the pycnocline nitrate and phosphate originate from the Southern Ocean. Mixing, as opposed to advection, accounts for most of the gross nutrient input to the pycnocline. However, in net, mixing carries nutrients away from the pycnocline. Despite the quantitative dominance of mixing in the gross nutrient transport, the nutrient richness of the pycnocline relies on the large-scale advective flow, through which nutrient-rich water is converted to nutrient-poor surface water that eventually flows to the North Atlantic.",
author = "Fran{\c c}ois Fripiat and Alfredo Mart{\'i}nez-Garc{\'i}a and Dario Marconi and Fawcett, {Sarah E.} and Kopf, {Sebastian H.} and Luu, {Victoria H.} and Rafter, {Patrick A.} and Run Zhang and Sigman, {Daniel M.} and Haug, {Gerald H.}",
note = "Funding Information: The authors thank the ship captains, crews and chief scientists (GOSHIP and GEOTRACES) who supported the sampling activities during the various field programs that contributed to this study, and S. Oleynik and M.A. Weigand (Princeton University), and B. Hinnenberg and F. Rubach (MPIC) for analytical advice and support and for help with sample processing. The data analysis and modeling components of this study, as well as a portion of the nitrate isotope measurements, were funded by the Max Planck Society. D.M.S. acknowledges US NSF grants OCE-0960802, 1851430, 1736652 and 2049416. S.E.F. acknowledges the South African NRF and SANAP (through grants 129232, 110735 and 115335), and the support of a Royal Society/AAS FLAIR fellowship. P.A.R. acknowledges US NSF grants OCE-2015647 and OCE-2032340. SHK acknowledges US NSF grant OCE-2041539 and the support of an Agouron Institute fellowship. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021, The Author(s).",
year = "2021",
month = nov,
doi = "10.1038/s41561-021-00836-8",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "14",
pages = "855--861",
journal = "Nature Geoscience",
issn = "1752-0894",
publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",
number = "11",
}