Studies in the Modern Ocean

CTD/hydrocast package descending into the Southern Ocean. Photo Kenemy

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

AuthorTitleTypeYear
7 Publications
Applied Filters: First Letter Of Title: T Reset
Time-transgressive North Atlantic productivity changes upon Northern Hemisphere glaciation
K.T. Lawrence, D.M. Sigman, T.D. Herbert, C.A. Riihimaki, C.T. Bolton, A. Martínez-García, A. Rosell-Mele, G.H. Haug
Marine biological export productivity declined in high-latitude regions in the North Pacific and Southern Ocean 2.7 million years ago, in parallel with the intensification of Northern Hemisphere glaciation. Here we present data from the North Atlantic, which show a similar but time-transgressive pattern of high-latitude productivity decline from 3…
Tooth enamel nitrogen isotope composition records trophic position: a tool for reconstructing food webs
J.N. Leichliter, T. Lüdecke, A.D. Foreman, N. Bourgon, N.N. Duprey, H.B. Vonhof, V. Souksavatdy, A.-M. Bacon, D.M. Sigman, T. Tütken, A. Martínez-García

Nitrogen isotopes are widely used to study the trophic position of animals in modern food webs; however, their application in the fossil record is severely limited by degradation of organic material during fossilization. In this study, we show that the nitrogen isotope composition of organic matter preserved in mammalian tooth enamel …

Tracing the fate of seabird-derived nitrogen in a coral reef using nitrate and coral skeleton nitrogen isotopes
N. Choisnard, N.N. Duprey, T. Wald, M. Thibault, F. Houlbrèque, A.D. Foreman, P. Cuet, M.M.M. Guillaume, H.B. Vonhof, D.M. Sigman, G.H. Haug, J.-F. Maguer, S. Helguen, A. Martínez-García, A. Lorrain
Seabirds transfer nutrients from the ocean to their nesting island, potentially altering nitrogen (N) cycling within adjacent terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Yet, the processes involved in seabird-N transfer along the land–sea continuum remain elusive. Using δ15N and δ18O measurements of groundwater nitrate, we demonstrate the role of brackish…
Tracking Agulhas Leakage in the South Atlantic Using Modern Planktic Foraminifera Nitrogen Isotopes
R. Granger, S.M. Smart, A.D. Foreman, A. Auderset, E.C. Campbell, T.A. Marshall, G.H. Haug, D.M. Sigman, A. Martínez-García, S.E. Fawcett
Seawater transported into the South Atlantic from the Indian Ocean via “Agulhas leakage” modulates global ocean circulation and has been linked to glacial-interglacial climate cycles. However, constraining past Agulhas leakage has been a challenge. We sampled a transect of the Cape Basin in winter 2017 that intersected a mature Agulhas eddy and…
Triple oxygen isotope analysis of nitrate using the denitrifier method and thermal decomposition of N2O
J. Kaiser, M.G. Hastings, B.Z. Houlton, T. Röckmann, D.M. Sigman

Interaction with ozone transfers its anomalous (non-mass-dependent) 17O enrichment to atmospheric nitrogen oxides and nitrate. The 17O anomaly (Δ17O) in nitrate can be used to identify atmospheric nitrate inputs into terrestrial and aquatic environments as well as to study the role of ozone in the atmosphere s reactive nitrogen cycle. We report…

Tropical Dominance of N2 Fixation in the North Atlantic Ocean
D. Marconi, D.M. Sigman, K.L. Casciotti, E.C. Campbell, A. Weigand, S.E. Fawcett, A.N. Knapp, P.A. Rafter, B.B. Ward, G.H. Haug
To investigate the controls on N2 fixation and the role of the Atlantic in the global ocean s fixed nitrogen (N) budget, Atlantic N2 fixation is calculated by combining meridional nitrate fluxes across World Ocean Circulation Experiment sections with observed nitrate 15N/14N differences between northward and southward transported nitrate. N2…
Two modes of change in Southern Ocean productivity over the past million years
S.L. Jaccard, C.T. Hayes, A. Martínez-García, D.A. Hodell, R.F. Anderson, D.M. Sigman, G.H. Haug
Export of organic carbon from surface waters of the Antarctic Zone of the Southern Ocean decreased during the last ice age, coinciding with declining atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations, signaling reduced exchange of CO2 between the ocean interior and the atmosphere. In contrast, in the Subantarctic Zone, export production increased…