
The CTD/hydrocast package descending into the Southern Ocean water column from the deck of the South African research icebreaker S.A. Agulhas II, sailing from Cape Town to the Antarctic winter ice edge. Photo: Preston Cosslett Kemeny ’15
References
We report a new foraminifera-bound δ 15N (FB-δ 15N) record from the South China Sea (SCS) extending back to 42ka. This record shows a ∼1.2‰ glacial-to-interglacial δ 15N decrease, with a deglacial δ 15N maximum similar to that observed in many bulk sedimentary δ 15N records and in a Caribbean FB-δ 15N record. The glacial-to-interglacial δ 15N…
Fixed nitrogen (N) is a limiting nutrient for algae in the low-latitude ocean, and its oceanic inventory may have been higher during ice ages, thus helping to lower atmospheric CO2 during those intervals. In organic matter within planktonic foraminifera shells in Caribbean Sea sediments, we found that the 15N/14N ratio from the last ice age is…
Surface sediment diatom-bound δ15N along a latitudinal transect of 170°W shows a previously unobserved increase to the South of the Antarctic Polar Front. The southward δ15N increase is best explained by the combination of two changes toward the South, a decrease in the isotope effect of nitrate assimilation (ε) and an increase in the degree of…
Diatom-bound 15N/14N was used to reconstruct the glacial nutrient status of the Subantarctic Zone in the Southern Ocean. Down-core records from both the Pacific and Indian sectors show δ 15N of 5 to 6%‰ during the Last Glacial Maximum and a decrease, coincident with the glacial termination, to values as low as 2‰. The effect of either diatom…
Isotopic measurements of diatom-bound nitrogen, using a wet chemical oxidation combined with the "denitrifier" method for nitrate analysis, show significant offsets from previously published combustion-based measurements. This offset is attributed to a gaseous nitrogen blank associated with the diatom s opal frustule. Moreover, experimentation…