Project: Collaborative Research: Are all traps created equal? A multi-method assessment of the collection and detection of sinking particles in the ocean

NSF Award Abstract:

There is considerable need to understand the biological and ecological processes that through net primary production fix dissolved carbon dioxide (CO2) into organic matter in the upper ocean, and the processes that subsequently transport this organic carbon in to the ocean's interior. Most of the particulate organic carbon flux to the deep ocean is thought to be mediated by sinking particles. Ultimately it is the deep organic carbon transport and its sequestration that define the impact of ocean biota on atmospheric CO2 levels and hence climate. Currently, various methods are available to measure the amount of particles in the ocean that sink over a specified period of time commonly referred to as particle flux. Unfortunately, all of these methods are used independently of each other with very little intercomparison, leaving some uncertainty as to which approach provides the most accurate estimates. This study seeks to be the first concerted effort to standardize particle flux measurements. Seeking to keep the cost modest, the researchers are taking advantage of a collaboration with scientists in the United Kingdom to participate in an already scheduled research cruise. The proposed research will have much greater impact that merely standardization of particle flux measurements because it will provide the science and modeling community the ability to quantify the transfer of carbon throughout the surface ocean. Also, this project provides a variety of mentoring and training opportunities for students. A PhD student at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute will get their first sea-going experience and will learn all of the processing steps for the study of an isotope of thorium (234Th). Skidmore College will have an undergraduate participant in the research and the results from the cruise will also be an excellent additional component for undergraduate oceanography classes.

Researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Skidmore College, in collaboration with a scientist from the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton will inter-compare direct, tracer, and optical-sensor methods used to determine sinking particle fluxes in the surface ocean. To do this, they will firstly conduct a comparison of two types of neutrally buoyant traps and one surface-tethered, drifting array. Secondly, measured trap fluxes will be compared to predicted 234Th fluxes from a 3D time-series of data. Lastly, optical sediment trap measurements will be compared to particle size distributions in the water column and gel traps, as well as size-fractionated particles on filters from large volume pumps. With this research, global ocean models, particularly carbon, will have greater accuracy and stronger conclusions will be able to be drawn from them.