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Title: Iron deficiency and phytoplankton growth in the equatorial Pacific,
Description: Several experiments were conducted in the equatorial Pacific at 140°W during the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study, equatorial Pacific, 1992 Time-series I (TS-I, 23 March-9 April). Time-series II (TS-II, 2-20 October) and FeLINE II cruises (10 March-14 April), to investigate the effects of added Fe on phytoplankton communities. Seven series of deckboard iron-enrichment experiments were performed, with levels of added Fe ranging from 0.13 to 1000 nM. Time-course measurements included nutrients, chlorophyll a and HPLC pigments. Results of these experiments showed that subnanomolar (sub-nM) additions of Fe increased net community specific growth rates, with resultant chlorophyll a increases and nutrient decreases. Community growth rates followed Michaelis Menten type kinetics resulting in maximum rates of 0.99 doublings per day and a half-saturation constant of 0.12 nM iron. The dominant group responding to iron enrichment was diatoms., Cited By (since 1996):62, CODEN: DSROE, ,
Author: Fitzwater, Coale, Gordon, Johnson, Ondrusek
Date: 1996-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Iron, nutrient and phytoplankton biomass relationships in upwelled waters of the California coastal system,
Description: We report measurements of dissolvable and particulate iron, particulate Al, nutrients and phytoplankton biomass in surface waters during the termination of one upwelling event and the initiation of a second event in August 2000. These events occurred in the area of the Año Nuevo upwelling center off the coast of central California. The first event was observed after ∼8 days of continuous upwelling favorable winds, while the second event was observed through the onset of upwelling favorable winds to wind reversals ∼3 days later. Coincident with the upwelling signatures of low temperature and high salinity were significantly elevated concentrations of nitrate and silicate with average concentrations greater than 15 and 20 μM, respectively, during both upwelling events. Dissolvable Fe concentrations (TD-Fe) were significantly higher in the second event, 6.5 versus 1.2 nM Fe found in the first event. Nitrate was reduced by ∼5 μM day-1 within this second upwelled plume as compared to a drawdown of ∼2 μM day-1 within the first plume. Silicate was reduced in a ratio of 1.2 mol Si:mol NO3 in the high Fe waters of the second plume as compared to a ratio of 2.2 in the lower Fe waters of the first plume. The observed differences in nutrient utilization are consistent with some degree of iron limitation. The area of increased dissolvable Fe in the second upwelling event was coincident with elevated particulate Fe concentrations, indicating the particulate pool as a possible source of the observed increase in TD-Fe. The elevated particulate Fe in surface waters was a result of resuspended sediments in the bottom boundary layer (BBL) of the shallow shelf being transported to the surface during upwelling. Particulate (and dissolvable) iron concentrations were significantly reduced as upwelling continued. This was most probably due to a decoupling of the BBL from upwelled source waters as the upwelling front moved offshore and/or reduced turbulence in the BBL as upwelling continued. The observed reduction in both particulate and dissolvable Fe, as upwelling continued to deliver macronutrients to surface waters, may result in varying levels of Fe limitation., Cited By (since 1996):35, CODEN: CSHRD, ,
Author: Fitzwater, Johnson, Elrod, Ryan, Coletti, Tanner, Gordon, Chavez
Date: 2003-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: IronEx-I, an in situ iron-enrichment experiment,
Description: An in situ iron-enrichment experiment near the Galapagos Islands was performed in October 1993. Here we report the theoretical and practical considerations of creating such a patch of iron-enriched surface water, as well as the strategies employed for the detection of the patch and the biological and chemical signals which developed, in an area dominated by advective processes. Physical and chemical models were used to predict the speciation, solubility, and the final concentration of iron in surface waters injected with acidic iron sulfate. A trial injection off the California coast in which 800 L of a 0.5 M FeSO4 were introduced into the ship's wake over a 1.5 km2 area, was used to test these predictions. Iron concentrations were determined continually onboard during the initial experiment as the ship steamed in transects through the enriched patch. The results indicate excellent spatial agreement with model predictions and final concentrations that were consistent with the chemical model. However, the use of a Cartesian coordinate system during rejection resulted in an extremely compressed, heterogeneous patch. Results from this preliminary experiment were then applied towards the development and implementation of the first open ocean iron enrichment experiment (IronEx I) near the Galapagos Islands in October 1993. The development and results of these methodologies are presented. In the IronEx I equatorial experiment, a Lagrangian coordinate system was established using a drogued buoy (equipped with GPS and packet radio) and the iron-enriched area (64 km2 containing 443 kg of Fe) was tagged with the inert chemical tracer sulfurhexafluoride (SF6). This strategy resulted in a fairly rectangular, homogeneous enriched patch initially detectable by both Fe and SF6 determination. Shipboard analysis and airborne observations confirmed good spatial agreement between the Lagrangian drifter and the biological and chemical signatures in the patch. Biological and chemical sampling of the enriched area showed an increase in chlorophyll, primary production, biomass and photosynthetic energy conversion efficiency relative to waters outside the patch, supporting the hypothesis that iron limits phytoplankton growth and biomass in a 'bottom up' manner in this area. The ability to create a coherent patch and track it over time led to this first open-ocean test of the iron hypothesis., Cited By (since 1996):42, CODEN: DSROE, ,
Author: Coale, Johnson, Fitzwater, Blain, Stanton, Coley
Date: 1998-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: A massive phytoplankton bloom induced by an ecosystem-scale iron fertilization experiment in the equatorial Pacific Ocean
Description: The seeding of an expanse of surface waters in the equatorial Pacific Ocean with low concentrations of dissolved iron triggered a massive phytoplankton bloom which consumed large quantities of carbon dioxide and nitrate that these microscopic plants cannot fully utilize under natural conditions. These and other observations provide unequivocal support for the hypothesis that phytoplankton growth in this oceanic region is limited by iron bioavailability., Cited By (since 1996):930, Oceanography
Author: Coale, Johnson, Fitzwater, Gordon, Tanner, Chavez, Ferioli, Sakamoto, Rogers, Millero, Steinberg, Nightingale, Cooper, Cochlan, Landry, Constantinou, Rollwagen, Trasvina, Kudela
Date: 1996-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Testing the iron hypothesis in ecosystems of the equatorial Pacific Ocean,
Description: The idea that iron might limit phytoplankton growth in large regions of the ocean has been tested by enriching an area of 64 km 2 in the open equatorial Pacific Ocean with iron. This resulted in a doubling of plant biomass, a threefold increase in chlorophyll and a fourfold increase in plant production. Similar increases were found in a chlorophyll-rich plume down-stream of the Galapagos Islands, which was naturaly enriched in iron. These findings indicate that iron limitation can control rates of phytoplankton productivity and biomass in the ocean., Cited By (since 1996):749, Oceanography, CODEN: NATUA, ,
Author: Martin, Coale, Johnson, Fitzwater, Gordon, Tanner, Hunter, Elrod, Nowicki, Coley, Barber, Lindley, Watson, Van Scoy, Law, Liddicoat, Ling, Stanton, Stockel, Collins, Anderson, Bidigare, Ondrusek, Latasa, Millero, Lee, Yao, Zhang, Friederich, Sakamoto, Chavez, Buck, Kolber, Greene, Falkowski, Chisholm, Hoge, Swift, Yungel, Turner, Nightingale, Hatton, Liss, Tindale
Date: 1994-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Surface ocean-lower atmosphere interactions in the Northeast Pacific Ocean Gyre: Aerosols, iron, and the ecosystem response,
Description: Here we report measurements of iron and aluminum in surface and subsurface waters during late March and late May of 2001 on transects between central California and Hawaii. A large cloud of Asian dust was detected during April 2001, and there was a clear signal in surface water iron due to aerosol deposition on the May transect. Iron and aluminum concentrations increased synchronously by 0.5 and 2 nM along the southern portion of the transect, which includes the Hawaii Ocean Time series (HOT) station, from background values in March (0.1 to 0.2 nM Fe). These changes occured in a ratio that is close to the crustal abundance ratio of the metals, which indicates a soil aerosol source. A vertical profile of dissolved iron was also measured at the HOT station in late April and this profile also shows a large increase near the surface. Direct observations of aerosol iron concentration at Mauna Loa Observatory on Hawaii indicate that aerosol concentrations were significantly lower than climatological values during this period. Soil aerosol concentrations along the transect were estimated using the real-time Navy Aerosol Analysis and Prediction System (NAAPS). The NAAPS results show a large meridional gradient with maximum concentrations in the boundary layer north of 30°N. However, the deposition of iron and aluminum to surface waters was highest south of 25°N, near Hawaii. There were only weak signals in the ecosystem response to the aerosol deposition., Cited By (since 1996):64, Oceanography, , , Downloaded from: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2002GB002004/pdf (16 June 2014).
Author: Johnson, Elrod, Fitzwater, Plant, Chavez, Tanner, Gordon, Westphal, Perry, Wu, Karl
Date: 2003-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Control of community growth and export production by upwelled iron in the equatorial Pacific Ocean
Description: The iron hypothesis states that phytoplankton growth and biomass are limited by low concentrations of available iron in large regions of the world's oceans where other plant nutrients are abundant. Such limitation has been demonstrated by experiments in which iron has been added to both enclosed and in situ (un-enclosed) phytoplankton populations. A corollary of the iron hypothesis is that most 'new' iron is supplied by atmospheric deposition, and it has been suggested that changes in the deposition rates of iron-bearing dust have led to changes in biological productivity and, consequently, global climate. Here we report surface-water measurements in the equatorial Pacific Ocean which show that the main iron source to equatorial waters at 140°W is from upwelling waters. Shipboard in vitro experiments indicate that sub-nanomolar increases in iron concentrations can cause substantial increases in carbon export to deeper waters in this region. These findings demonstrate that equatorial biological production is controlled not solely by atmospheric iron deposition, but also by processes which influence the rate of upwelling and the iron concentration in upwelled water., Cited By (since 1996):221 Seaweeds, CODEN: NATUA
Author: Coale, Fitzwater, Gordon, Johnson, Barber
Date: 1996-01-01T00:00:00Z