Articles | Volume 15, issue 8
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-2565-2018
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-2565-2018
Research article
 | 
02 May 2018
Research article |  | 02 May 2018

N2 fixation as a dominant new N source in the western tropical South Pacific Ocean (OUTPACE cruise)

Mathieu Caffin, Thierry Moutin, Rachel Ann Foster, Pascale Bouruet-Aubertot, Andrea Michelangelo Doglioli, Hugo Berthelot, Cécile Guieu, Olivier Grosso, Sandra Helias-Nunige, Nathalie Leblond, Audrey Gimenez, Anne Alexandra Petrenko, Alain de Verneil, and Sophie Bonnet

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Cited articles

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We performed N budgets to assess the role of N2 fixation on production and export in the western tropical South Pacific Ocean. We deployed a combination of techniques including high-sensitivity measurements of N input and sediment traps deployment. We demonstrated that N2 fixation was the major source of new N before atmospheric deposition and upward nitrate fluxes. It contributed significantly to organic matter export, indicating a high efficiency of this region to export carbon.
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