Ocean Biogeochemical Dynamics

"Readers of Environmental Conservation with an interest in marine biogeochemistry and earth system science are encouraged to purchase or borrow this book. It is a comprehensive text on a complex and timely topic, and is one that will enlighten students and professionals alike. The authors are to be congratulated on their tour-de-force."---Peter Burkill, Environmental Conservation

Auteur
Jorge L. Sarmiento is Professor of Geosciences at Princeton University. Nicolas Gruber is Associate Professor of Geophysics at the University of California, Los Angeles.

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"Ocean Biogeochemical Dynamics is an outstanding text for student and professional alike. The authors have developed an exceptionally lucid yet detailed discussion of the major biogeochemical cycles in the oceans, culminating in a quantitative examination of climate change and the contemporary carbon cycle. The book is a tour de force that should be incorporated into all marine chemistry and biogeochemistry courses."--Paul Falkowski, Rutgers University

"Global ocean research projects during the past two decades have resulted in explosive growth in our knowledge of ocean biogeochemistry. Sarmiento and Gruber's book crystallizes this knowledge into a systematic quantitative treatise. For many years to come, this observation--and equation-filled volume will serve as a window into the literature on many subjects, a textbook for our classes, and a reference book on our desks. Studied carefully, it could teach chemical, biological, and physical oceanographers to speak a common language."--Edward A. Boyle, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

"With this book, ocean biogeochemistry--the fascinating science behind the cycling of elements in the sea, and their transformation by biological, chemical, and physical properties--has finally found its theoretical underpinning. The two authors, both world experts, have succeeded in bringing together in a comprehensive and unified way the mass of information from the different scientific disciplines as well as the numerous observations obtained over the last few decades. This book will serve as the ultimate reference, both for students and the advanced research scientist, for many years to come."--Martin Heimann, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry

"The Sarmiento and Gruber text is a very impressive achievement, providing a readable yet advanced treatise on ocean biogeochemistry and providing the best available summary of the advances of the last few decades. The emphasis on dynamics is highly relevant for studies of global change, while the emphasis on problem solving has yielded an invaluable teaching reference."--Ralph Keeling, Scripps Institution of Oceanography

Sarmiento and Gruber have cleverly found the middle ground between the "educated layman" approach so often typified in "soft sciences" and the stultifying rigor that cloaks the conceptual simplicity underlying many of the foundations of the field. They don't shy away from mathematical explanations but rather use them to make their points succinctly, and to clarify what is often a confused muddle in more basic texts."--W.J. Jenkins, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Résumé

Ocean Biogeochemical Dynamics provides a broad theoretical framework upon which graduate students and upper-level undergraduates can formulate an understanding of the processes that control the mean concentration and distribution of biologically utilized elements and compounds in the ocean. Though it is written as a textbook, it will also be of interest to more advanced scientists as a wide-ranging synthesis of our present understanding of ocean biogeochemical processes.

The first two chapters of the book provide an introductory overview of biogeochemical and physical oceanography. The next four chapters concentrate on processes at the air-sea interface, the production of organic matter in the upper ocean, the remineralization of organic matter in the water column, and the processing of organic matter in the sediments. The focus of these chapters is on analyzing the cycles of organic carbon, oxygen, and nutrients.

The next three chapters round out the authors' coverage of ocean biogeochemical cycles with discussions of silica, dissolved inorganic carbon and alkalinity, and CaCO3. The final chapter discusses applications of ocean biogeochemistry to our understanding of the role of the ocean carbon cycle in interannual to decadal variability, paleoclimatology, and the anthropogenic carbon budget. The problem sets included at the end of each chapter encourage students to ask critical questions in this exciting new field. While much of the approach is mathematical, the math is at a level that should be accessible to students with a year or two of college level mathematics and/or physics.

Contenu
Preface xi Chapter 1: Introduction 1 1.1 Chemical Composition of the Ocean 1 1.2 Distribution of Chemicals in the Ocean 7 1.3 Chapter Conclusion and Outline of Book 15 Problems 16 Chapter 2: Tracer Conservation and Ocean Transport 19 2.1 Tracer Conservation Equation 19 Advection and Diffusion Components 19 Application to Box Models 22 2.2 Wind-Driven Circulation 23 Equations of Motion 27 Ekman Transport 28 Gyre Circulation 30 2.3 Wind-Driven Circulation in the Stratified Ocean 33 Basic Concepts 34 Ocean Stratification 34 Geostrophic Equations 37 Gyre Circulation with Stratification 37 Insights from the Potential Vorticity Distribution 38 Insights from Tracers 39 Insights from the Thermal Wind Relationship 42 2.4 Deep Ocean Circulation 46 Observations 46 Models 52 Summary of Deep Ocean Circulation 57 2.5 Time-Varying Flows 59 Mesoscale Variability 60 Interannual to Decadal Variability 61 Tropical Variability 61 Extratropical Variability 66 Problems 69 Chapter 3: Air-Sea Interface 73 3.1 Introduction 73 3.2 Gas Solubilities 75 3.3 Gas Exchange 80 Stagnant Film Model 81 Laboratory Studies 83 Field Studies 86 Gas Transfer Velocity Models 89 3.4 Applications 95 Problems 100 Chapter 4: Organic Matter Production 102 4.1 Introduction 102 Nutrient Supply 105 Light 111 Efficiency of the Biological Pump 111 Outline 114 4.2 Ecosystem Processes 115 Nutrients 115 Composition of Organic Matter 115 Limiting Nutrient 117 Paradigm of Surface Ocean Nitrogen Cycling 117 Phytoplankton 123 Classification of Organisms 123 Phytoplankton Distribution and Productivity 128 Modeling Photosynthesis 131 Zooplankton 135 Bacteria 137 4.3 Analysis of Ecosystem Behavior 138 Role of Light Supply 139 Classical Ecosystem Models 142 N-P Model--Bottom-up Limitation 142 N-P-Z Model--Top-Down Limitation 144 Adding the Microbial Loop 146 Multiple Size Class Ecosystem Models 147 The Model 147 Influence of Micronutrients 149 Applications 150 North Pacific versus North Atlantic 152 Oligotrophic Region 155 4.4 A Synthesis 157 The Regeneration Loop 158 The Export Pathway 158 The Role of Iron 160 Conclusions 162 Problems 168 Chapter 5: Organic Matter Export and Remineralization 173 5.1 Introduction 173 Nutrient and Oxygen Distributions 173 Remineralizaton Reactions 178 Preformed and Remineralized Components 179 Dissolved and Particulate Organic Matter 180 Outline 181 5.2 Oxygen 181 Separation of Preformed and Remineralized Components 181 Deep Ocean Oxygen Utilization Rates 182 Thermocline Oxygen Utilization Rates 183 5.3 Nitrogen and Phosphorus 186 Stoichiometric Ratios 186 Phosphate 188 The Nitrogen Cycle 189 N as a Tracer of Denitrification 189 N as a Tracer of N2 Fixation 195 The Oceanic Nitrogen Budget 196 Nitrous Oxide 197 5.4 Organic Matter Cycling 200 Particulate Organic Matter 200 Overview 200 Particle Flux 203 The Role of Ballast 206 Particle Remineralization 207 Models of Particle Interactions 209 Dissolved Organic Matter 211 5.5 Models 215 Model Development 215 Sensitivity Studies 217 Applications: Control of Oceanic Oxygen 221 Problems 222 Chap…