Articles | Volume 22, issue 14 
            
                
                    
            
            
            https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-3485-2025
                    © Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under 
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
                the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-3485-2025
                    © Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under 
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
                the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Marine snow morphology drives sinking and attenuation in the ocean interior
Yawouvi Dodji Soviadan
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
                                            
                                    
                                            Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Laboratoire d'Océanographie de Villefranche, UMR 7093 LOV, Villefranche-sur-Mer, France
                                        
                                    
                                            Université de Lomé,  Lomé, TOGO, France
                                        
                                    
                                            MARBEC, IRD, IFREMER, CNRS, Université de Montpellier, 87 Avenue Jean Monnet, 34200 Sète, France
                                        
                                    Miriam Beck
                                            Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Laboratoire d'Océanographie de Villefranche, UMR 7093 LOV, Villefranche-sur-Mer, France
                                        
                                    
                                            FRB-CESAB, Montpellier, France
                                        
                                    Joelle Habib
                                            Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Laboratoire d'Océanographie de Villefranche, UMR 7093 LOV, Villefranche-sur-Mer, France
                                        
                                    Alberto Baudena
                                            Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Laboratoire d'Océanographie de Villefranche, UMR 7093 LOV, Villefranche-sur-Mer, France
                                        
                                    
                                            Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche-Istituto di Scienze Marine (CNR-ISMAR), Lerici (SP), Italy
                                        
                                    Laetitia Drago
                                            Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Laboratoire d'Océanographie de Villefranche, UMR 7093 LOV, Villefranche-sur-Mer, France
                                        
                                    
                                            Sorbonne Université, UMR 7159 CNRS-IRD-MNHN, LOCEAN-IPSL, Paris, France
                                        
                                    Alexandre Accardo
                                            Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Laboratoire d'Océanographie de Villefranche, UMR 7093 LOV, Villefranche-sur-Mer, France
                                        
                                    Remi Laxenaire
                                            Laboratoire de l'Atmosphère et des Cyclones, LACy, UMR 8105, CNRS, Université de La Réunion, Météo-France, Saint-Denis de La Réunion, France
                                        
                                    
                                            Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA
                                        
                                    Sabrina Speich
                                            Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique – IPSL, ENS – PSL, Paris, France
                                        
                                    Peter Brandt
                                            GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, Germany
                                        
                                    
                                            Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany
                                        
                                    Rainer Kiko
                                            Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Laboratoire d'Océanographie de Villefranche, UMR 7093 LOV, Villefranche-sur-Mer, France
                                        
                                    
                                            GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, Germany
                                        
                                    
                                            Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany
                                        
                                    
                                            Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Laboratoire d'Océanographie de Villefranche, UMR 7093 LOV, Villefranche-sur-Mer, France
                                        
                                    
                                            Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France
                                        
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                            Latest update: 30 Oct 2025
Co-editor-in-chief
                This study is the first to measure marine snow morphologies, sinking speeds, and midwater attenuation in export plumes using a BGC-Argo float equipped with optical and imaging sensors, offering new insights into the effects of morphology on particle sinking. The findings emphasize the need to move beyond size-based models by incorporating morphological properties to improve understanding of particle sinking and enhance flux estimates, with potential applications for monitoring natural and human-induced export events at high spatio-temporal resolution.
                    This study is the first to measure marine snow morphologies, sinking speeds, and midwater...
                    
            Short summary
                    Key parameters representing the gravity flux in global models are sinking speed and vertical attenuation of exported material. We calculate, for the first time, these parameters in situ in the ocean for six intermittent blooms followed by export events using high-resolution (3 d) time series of 0–1000 m depth profiles from imaging sensors mounted on an Argo float. We show that sinking speed depends not only on size but also on the morphology of the particles, with density being an important property.
                    Key parameters representing the gravity flux in global models are sinking speed and vertical...
                    
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