Our mechanistic understanding of the processes controlling the ocean's biological pump is limited, in part, by our lack of observational data at appropriate timescales. The “optical sediment trap” (OST) technique utilizes a transmissometer on a ...

Determinations of the net community production (NCP) in the upper ocean and the particle export production (EP) should balance over long time and large spatial scales. However, recent modeling studies suggest that a horizontal decoupling ...

Carbon and nutrients are transported out of the surface ocean and sequestered at depth by sinking particles. Sinking particle sizes span many orders of magnitude and the relative influence of small particles on carbon export ...

Processes active in rising hydrothermal plumes, such as precipitation, particle aggregation, and biological growth, affect particle size distributions and can exert important influences on the biogeochemical impact of submarine venting of iron to the oceans ...

Observational gaps limit our understanding of particle flux attenuation through the upper mesopelagic because available measurements (sediment traps and radiochemical tracers) have limited temporal resolution, are labor-intensive, and require ship support. Here, we conceptually evaluate ...

We quantified rates of photochemical dissolution (photodissolution) of organic carbon in coastal Louisiana suspended sediments, conducting experiments under well-defined conditions of irradiance and temperature. Optical properties of the suspended sediments were characterized and used in ...

We investigated the influences of organic content and mineralogical composition on light absorption by mostly mineral suspended particles in aquatic and coastal marine systems. Mass-specific absorption spectra of suspended particles and surface sediments from coastal ...

Several recent lines of literature point toward strong photoreactivity of phytoplanktonic detritus. We examined effects of irradiation of algal membrane fragments in various stages of decay, with emphasis on transfer of materials from solid to ...