Biogeochemical characteristics of suspended particulate matter in deep chlorophyll maximum layers in the southern East China Sea

Liu, Qianqian; Kandasamy, Selvaraj; Lin, Baozhi; Wang, Huawei; Chen, Chen-Tung Arthur

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-2091-2018

Articles | Volume 15, issue 7

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-2091-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-2091-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 15, issue 7

Research article

|

10 Apr 2018

Research article |

| 10 Apr 2018

Biogeochemical characteristics of suspended particulate matter in deep chlorophyll maximum layers in the southern East China Sea

Qianqian Liu, Selvaraj Kandasamy, Baozhi Lin, Huawei Wang, and Chen-Tung Arthur Chen

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Final revised paper (published on 10 Apr 2018)
Supplement to the final revised paper
Preprint (discussion started on 11 Jul 2017)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

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

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- Supplement

RC1: 'Review', Philip Meyers, 03 Aug 2017
- AC1: 'Reply to Referee 1 Comments:', Selvaraj Kandasamy, 02 Oct 2017
RC2: 'review', Anonymous Referee #2, 08 Aug 2017
- AC2: 'Reply to Referee 2 Comments:', Selvaraj Kandasamy, 02 Oct 2017
RC3: 'Referee 3 about bg-2017-290', Anonymous Referee #3, 28 Aug 2017
- AC3: 'Reply to Referee 3 Comments:', Selvaraj Kandasamy, 02 Oct 2017

Peer-review completion

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

ED: Reconsider after major revisions (10 Oct 2017) by Carol Robinson

AR by Selvaraj Kandasamy on behalf of the Authors (04 Nov 2017) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (18 Nov 2017) by Carol Robinson

RR by Philip Meyers (30 Nov 2017)

RR by Anonymous Referee #4 (18 Jan 2018)

Suggestions for revision or reasons for rejection

Liu et al. present isotopic compositions and concentrations of particulate organic carbon and particulate nitrogen (POC and PON, respectively) in samples collected from the deep chlorophyll maximum (DCM) in the south East China Sea in summer 2013. They combine these data sets with temperature, salinity, turbidity and calibrated chlorophyll fluorescence data to determine the sources of particulate organic matter in the DCM and what factors govern isotopic dynamics of POC and PON in the DCM. The authors attribute variation in δ13CPOC to be governed by changes in primary productivity and community composition and variation in δ15NPN to be governed by changes in uptake of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (i.e. NH4+ or NO3-) and source (with a link to water masses). The handling and interpretation of isotopic data is good, however with a lack of certain auxiliary data sets (e.g. dissolved inorganic nutrients, community composition), and full methodological detail in the determination of others (chlorophyll), it is hard to fully critique their interpretation of the data and their conclusions. Following revision, this study could contribute to our understanding of organic matter cycling and production within shelf seas.
My primary concerns with the manuscript are as following:
- A lack of information in the methods relating to chlorophyll (sample treatment, analysis and calibration of the fluorescence sensor).
- Interpretation of δ13CPOC and δ15NPN is sometimes highly speculative and in some cases data to support certain arguments are not provided (e.g. dissolved inorganic nutrient data).
- Grammar and sentence structure need improvement in some sections.
Therefore I suggest major revisions, with details comments attached.

Referee Report: PDF

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ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (review by editor) (25 Jan 2018) by Carol Robinson

AR by Selvaraj Kandasamy on behalf of the Authors (22 Feb 2018) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (17 Mar 2018) by Carol Robinson

AR by Selvaraj Kandasamy on behalf of the Authors (20 Mar 2018)

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Short summary

Understanding the global carbon cycling in the marginal seas is crucial to realize the climate–carbon link. Here we characterized the source of suspended particulate matter along the deep chlorophyll maximum layers and found that organic matter in these layers was largely derived from the primary production. Also this layer is insignificantly influenced by the land-derived organic matter. Our results may have a direct implication on the application of isotopic mixing models in marine sediments.