Articles | Volume 20, issue 12
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-2499-2023
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-2499-2023
Research article
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30 Jun 2023
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 30 Jun 2023

All about nitrite: exploring nitrite sources and sinks in the eastern tropical North Pacific oxygen minimum zone

John C. Tracey, Andrew R. Babbin, Elizabeth Wallace, Xin Sun, Katherine L. DuRussel, Claudia Frey, Donald E. Martocello III, Tyler Tamasi, Sergey Oleynik, and Bess B. Ward

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Cited articles

Anderson, J. J., Okubo, A., Robbins, A. S., and Richards, F. A.: A model for nitrate distributions in oceanic oxygen minimum zones, Deep-Sea Res. Pt. I, 29, 1113–1140, https://doi.org/10.1016/0198-0149(82)90031-0, 1982. 
ASTM international: Standard Guide for Spiking into Aqueous Samples, West Conshohocken, PA, https://compass.astm.org/document/?contentCode=ASTM7CD5810-96R067Cen-US&proxycl=https3A2F2Fsecure.astm.org&fromLogin=true (last access: 9 March 2018.), 2006. 
Babbin, A. R., Keil, R. G., Devol, A. H., and Ward, B. B.: Organic matter stoichiometry, flux, and oxygen control nitrogen loss in the ocean, Science, 344, 406–408, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1248364, 2014. 
Babbin, A. R., Peters, B. D., Mordy, C. W., Widner, B., Casciotti, K. L., and Ward, B. B.: Multiple metabolisms constrain the anaerobic nitrite budget in the Eastern Tropical South Pacific, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 31, 258–271, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GB005407, 2017. 
Babbin, A. R., Buchwald, C., Morel, F. M. M., Wankel, S. D., and Ward, B. B.: Nitrite oxidation exceeds reduction and fixed nitrogen loss in anoxic Pacific waters, Mar. Chem., 224, 103814, https://doi.org/10.1016/J.MARCHEM.2020.103814, 2020. 
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Co-editor-in-chief
Nitrite is a nexus in nitrogen turnover, especially in oxygen minimum zones. This study works out new details of its specific role and adds new evidence for anaerobic nitrite oxidation. Furthermore, it shows that nitrogen recycling (nitrate reduction and nitrite oxidation) is quantitatively more important than loss processes.
Short summary
Nitrogen (N) is essential for life; thus, its availability plays a key role in determining marine productivity. Using incubations of seawater spiked with a rare form of N measurable on a mass spectrometer, we quantified microbial pathways that determine marine N availability. The results show that pathways that recycle N have higher rates than those that result in its loss from biomass and present new evidence for anaerobic nitrite oxidation, a process long thought to be strictly aerobic.
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