Biogeosciences
Biogeosciences
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Articles | Volume 15, issue 23
Articles | Volume 15, issue 23
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-7177-2018
© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-7177-2018
© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Articles | Volume 15, issue 23
Research article
 | 
03 Dec 2018
Research article |  | 03 Dec 2018

The number of past and future regenerations of iron in the ocean
and its intrinsic fertilization efficiency

Benoît Pasquier and Mark Holzer

Data sets

World Ocean Database 2013 T. P. Boyer, J. I. Antonov, O. K. Baranova, C. Coleman, H. E. Garcia, A. Grodsky, D. R. Johnson, R. A. Locarnini, A. V. Mishonov, T. D. O'Brien, C. R. Paver, J. R. Reagan, D. Seidov, I. V. Smolyar, and M. M. Zweng https://doi.org/10.7289/V5NZ85MT

The GEOTRACES Intermediate Data Product 2014 E. Mawji et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marchem.2015.04.005

Size-partitioned phytoplankton carbon concentrations retrieved from ocean color data T. S. Kostadinov, S. Milutinovic, I. Marinov, A. Cabré https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.859005

Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Aqua Chlorophyll Data NASA Ocean Biology Processing Group https://doi.org/10.5067/AQUA/MODIS/L3B/CHL/2014

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Short summary
We analyze data-constrained state estimates of the global marine iron cycle, a key control on the ocean's biological carbon pump. We develop new techniques for counting the iron's number of passages through the biological pump and link this number to the ocean's natural iron fertilization efficiency. We find that the majority of iron is not biologically utilized before being scavenged, and we identify the central equatorial Pacific as having the highest iron fertilization efficiency.
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