What prevents nitrogen depletion in the oxygen minimum zone of the eastern tropical South Pacific?

Su, B.; Pahlow, M.; Wagner, H.; Oschlies, A.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-1113-2015

Articles | Volume 12, issue 4

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-1113-2015

© Author(s) 2015. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-1113-2015

© Author(s) 2015. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 12, issue 4

Research article

|

24 Feb 2015

Research article |

| 24 Feb 2015

What prevents nitrogen depletion in the oxygen minimum zone of the eastern tropical South Pacific?

B. Su, M. Pahlow, H. Wagner, and A. Oschlies

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Final revised paper (published on 24 Feb 2015)
Preprint (discussion started on 18 Jul 2014)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

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- Supplement

RC C4925: 'Review of "What prevents nitrogen depletion in the OMZ of the Eastern Tropical South Pacific?"', Anonymous Referee #1, 04 Sep 2014
- AC C6922: 'Response to Referee #1', Bei Su, 21 Nov 2014
RC C5229: 'Review of "What prevents nitrogen depletion in the OMZ of the Eastern Tropical South Pacific?"', Anonymous Referee #2, 19 Sep 2014
- AC C6923: 'Response to Referee #2', Bei Su, 21 Nov 2014

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

AR by Bei Su on behalf of the Authors (19 Dec 2014) Manuscript

ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (04 Jan 2015) by S. Wajih A. Naqvi

RR by Anonymous Referee #1 (18 Jan 2015)

ED: Publish subject to technical corrections (27 Jan 2015) by S. Wajih A. Naqvi

AR by Bei Su on behalf of the Authors (03 Feb 2015) Author's response Manuscript

Short summary

A box model of the eastern tropical South Pacific oxygen minimum zone suggests that anaerobic water-column remineralization rates have to be slower than aerobic remineralization in order to explain the relatively high values of observed nitrate concentrations. Lateral oxygen supply sufficient to oxidize about one-fifth of the export production is required to prevent an anoxic deep ocean. Under these circumstances, the region can be a net source of fixed nitrogen to the surrounding ocean.