Articles | Volume 21, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-1223-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-1223-2025
Research article
 | 
04 Jul 2025
Research article |  | 04 Jul 2025

Critical uncoupling between biogeochemical stocks and rates in Ross Sea springtime production–export dynamics

Meredith G. Meyer, Esther Portela, Walker O. Smith Jr., and Karen J. Heywood

Related authors

Cold lenses in the Amundsen Sea: Impacts of sea ice formation on subsurface pH and carbon
Daisy Drew Pickup, Dorothee C. E. Bakker, Karen J. Heywood, Francis Glassup, Emily Hammermeister, Sharon E. Stammerjohn, Gareth A. Lee, Socratis Loucaides, Bastien Y. Queste, Benjamin G. M. Webber, and Patricia L. Yager
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2441,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2441, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Ocean Science (OS).
Short summary
Stratification and Mixed Layer Depth around Iceland, characterization and inter-annual variability
Angel Ruiz-Angulo, Esther Portela, Charly de Marez, Andreas Macrander, Sólveig Rósa Ólafsdóttir, Thomas Meunier, Steingrímur Jónsson, and M. Dolores Pérez-Hernández
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2102,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2102, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Ocean Science (OS).
Short summary
Observations of ocean currents and turbulent mixing in the Dotson Ice Shelf cavity
Maren Elisabeth Richter, Karen J. Heywood, and Rob A. Hall
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1994,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1994, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Ocean Science (OS).
Short summary
Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf Cavity Observations Reveal Multi-year Sea Ice Dynamics and Deep-Water Warming in Pine Island Bay, West Antarctica
Christian T. Wild, Tasha Snow, Tiago S. Dotto, Peter E. D. Davis, Scott Tyler, Ted A. Scambos, Erin C. Pettit, and Karen J. Heywood
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1675,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1675, 2025
Short summary
The OCEAN ICE mooring compilation: a standardised, pan-Antarctic database of ocean hydrography and current time series
Shenjie Zhou, Pierre Dutrieux, Claudia F. Giulivi, Adrian Jenkins, Alessandro Silvano, Christopher Auckland, E. Povl Abrahamsen, Michael P. Meredith, Irena Vaňková, Keith W. Nicholls, Peter E. D. Davis, Svein Østerhus, Arnold L. Gordon, Christopher J. Zappa, Tiago S. Dotto, Theodore A. Scambos, Kathyrn L. Gunn, Stephen R. Rintoul, Shigeru Aoki, Craig Stevens, Chengyan Liu, Sukyoung Yun, Tae-Wan Kim, Won Sang Lee, Markus Janout, Tore Hattermann, Julius Lauber, Elin Darelius, Anna Wåhlin, Leo Middleton, Pasquale Castagno, Giorgio Budillon, Karen J. Heywood, Jennifer Graham, Stephen Dye, Daisuke Hirano, and Una Kim Miller
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-54,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-54, 2025
Preprint under review for ESSD
Short summary

Related subject area

Approach: In situ Observations | Properties and processes: Biogeochemistry and nutrient cycles
Control of spatio-temporal variability of ocean nutrients in the East Australian Current
Megan Jeffers, Christopher C. Chapman, Bernadette M. Sloyan, and Helen Bostock
Ocean Sci., 21, 537–554, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-537-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-537-2025, 2025
Short summary
Drivers of the spatiotemporal distribution of dissolved nitrous oxide and air-sea exchange in a coastal Mediterranean area
Susana Flecha, Mercedes de la Paz, Fiz Fernández Pérez, Núria Marbà, Carlos Morell, Eva Alou-Font, Joaquín Tintoré, and Iris E. Hendriks
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-4166,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-4166, 2025
Short summary
The Southern Ocean Time Series: A climatological view of hydrography, biogeochemistry, phytoplankton community composition, and carbon export in the Subantarctic Zone
Elizabeth H. Shadwick, Cathryn A. Wynn-Edwards, Ruth S. Eriksen, Peter Jansen, Xiang Yang, Gemma Woodward, and Diana Davies
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3887,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3887, 2024
Short summary
Biogeochemical Layering and Transformation of Particulate Organic Carbon in the Tropical Northwestern Pacific Ocean Inferred from δ13C
Detong Tian, Xuegang Li, Jinming Song, Jun Ma, Huamao Yuan, and Liqin Duan
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3467,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3467, 2024
Short summary
Ventilation of the Bay of Bengal oxygen minimum zone by the Southwest Monsoon Current
Peter M. F. Sheehan, Benjamin G. M. Webber, Alejandra Sanchez-Franks, and Bastien Y. Queste
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3681,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3681, 2024
Short summary

Cited articles

Alkire, M. B., Lee, C., D'Asaro, E., Perry, M. J., Briggs, N., Cetinic, I., and Gray, A.: Net community production and export from Seaglider measurements in the North Atlantic after the spring bloom, J. Geophys. Res., 119, 6121–6139, https://doi.org/10.1002/2014JC010105, 2014. 
Arrigo, K. R., van Dijken, G. L., and Bushinsky, S.: Primary production in the Southern Ocean, 1997–2006, J. Geophys. Res., 113, 184–227, https://doi.org/10.1029/2007JC004551, 2008. 
Becquevort, S. and Smith Jr., W. O.: Aggregation, sedimentation and biodegradability of phytoplankton-derived material during spring in the Ross Sea, Antarctica, Deep-Sea Res. Pt. II, 48, 19–20, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0967-0645(01)00084-4, 2001. 
Bittig, H. C., Kortzinger, A., Neill, C., van Ooijen, E., Plant, J. N., Hahn, J., Johnson, K. S., Yang, B., and Emerson, S. R.: Oxygen optode sensors: principle, characterization, calibration, and application in the ocean, Front. Mar. Sci., 4, 429, https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2017.00429, 2018. 
Boss, E. and Pegau, W. S.: Relationship of light scattering at an angle in the backward direction to the backscattering coefficient, Appl. Optics, 40, 5503–5507, https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.40.005503, 2001. 
Download
Short summary
During the annual phytoplankton bloom, rates of primary production and carbon export in the Ross Sea, Antarctica, are uncoupled from each other and from oxygen and carbon stocks. These biogeochemical rates support the high-productivity, low-export classification of the region and suggest that environmental factors influence these stocks and rates differently and make projections under future climate change scenarios difficult.
Share