A flux‐based threshold for anaerobic activity in the ocean
© 2021. The Authors. Anaerobic microbial activity in the ocean causes losses of bioavailable nitrogen and emission of nitrous oxide to the atmosphere, but its predictability at global scales remains limited. Resource ratio theory suggests that anaerobic activity becomes sustainable when the ratio of...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
2021
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/133634 |
| _version_ | 1826215280196452352 |
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| author | Zakem, Emily J Lauderdale, Jonathan M Schlitzer, Reiner Follows, Michael J |
| author_facet | Zakem, Emily J Lauderdale, Jonathan M Schlitzer, Reiner Follows, Michael J |
| author_sort | Zakem, Emily J |
| collection | MIT |
| description | © 2021. The Authors. Anaerobic microbial activity in the ocean causes losses of bioavailable nitrogen and emission of nitrous oxide to the atmosphere, but its predictability at global scales remains limited. Resource ratio theory suggests that anaerobic activity becomes sustainable when the ratio of oxygen to organic matter supply is below the ratio required by aerobic metabolisms. Here, we demonstrate the relevance of this framework at the global scale using three-dimensional ocean datasets, providing a new interpretation of existing observations. Evaluations of the location and extent of anoxic zones and a diagnostic rate of pelagic nitrogen loss are consistent with previous estimates. However, we demonstrate that a threshold based on substrate-supply fluxes is qualitatively different from a threshold based solely on the ambient oxygen concentration. This implies that use of the flux-based threshold in global biogeochemical models can result in different predictions of anaerobic activity and nitrogen loss. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:21:39Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/133634 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:21:39Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | American Geophysical Union (AGU) |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1336342021-10-28T03:10:46Z A flux‐based threshold for anaerobic activity in the ocean Zakem, Emily J Lauderdale, Jonathan M Schlitzer, Reiner Follows, Michael J © 2021. The Authors. Anaerobic microbial activity in the ocean causes losses of bioavailable nitrogen and emission of nitrous oxide to the atmosphere, but its predictability at global scales remains limited. Resource ratio theory suggests that anaerobic activity becomes sustainable when the ratio of oxygen to organic matter supply is below the ratio required by aerobic metabolisms. Here, we demonstrate the relevance of this framework at the global scale using three-dimensional ocean datasets, providing a new interpretation of existing observations. Evaluations of the location and extent of anoxic zones and a diagnostic rate of pelagic nitrogen loss are consistent with previous estimates. However, we demonstrate that a threshold based on substrate-supply fluxes is qualitatively different from a threshold based solely on the ambient oxygen concentration. This implies that use of the flux-based threshold in global biogeochemical models can result in different predictions of anaerobic activity and nitrogen loss. 2021-10-27T19:53:56Z 2021-10-27T19:53:56Z 2021 2021-09-16T16:00:24Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/133634 en 10.1029/2020GL090423 Geophysical Research Letters Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ application/pdf American Geophysical Union (AGU) American Geophysical Union (AGU) |
| spellingShingle | Zakem, Emily J Lauderdale, Jonathan M Schlitzer, Reiner Follows, Michael J A flux‐based threshold for anaerobic activity in the ocean |
| title | A flux‐based threshold for anaerobic activity in the ocean |
| title_full | A flux‐based threshold for anaerobic activity in the ocean |
| title_fullStr | A flux‐based threshold for anaerobic activity in the ocean |
| title_full_unstemmed | A flux‐based threshold for anaerobic activity in the ocean |
| title_short | A flux‐based threshold for anaerobic activity in the ocean |
| title_sort | flux based threshold for anaerobic activity in the ocean |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/133634 |
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