Distribution of suspended particulate matter at the equatorial transect in the Atlantic Ocean
Open Access
- 21 October 2021
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Copernicus GmbH in Ocean Science
- Vol. 17 (5), 1421-1435
- https://doi.org/10.5194/os-17-1421-2021
Abstract
A suspended particulate matter distribution against a hydrographical background was studied at the oceanographic transect across the equatorial Atlantic in the year 2000. An area of abnormally high suspended matter volume concentrations was found above the Sierra Leone Rise in the entire water column (eastern part of the transect). The suggested explanation for the anomaly is based on the ballast hypothesis whereby solid particles are incorporated as ballast into suspended biogenic aggregates, leading to increased velocities of sinking. This occurs within the Northwest African upwelling area, where the plankton exposed to the Saharan dust abundance form a significant number of aggregates, which are later transported equatorward via the Canary Current. An intermediate nepheloid layer associated with the Deep Western Boundary Current was recorded from the South American Slope at depths of 3200–3700 to 4300 m above the Para Abyssal Plain. Antarctic Bottom Water enriched in suspended matter was found mostly in the troughs at 40–41∘ W. It was detached from the bottom, coinciding with the core of the flow due to the bottom rise “dam” located up-stream. The grain size of particles along the entire transect has a polymodal distribution with 2–4 and 8–13 µm modes. The registered rise in percentage in some parts of the transect of the 7–21 µm sized particles suggests the presence of the well-known coarse mode (20–60 µm) formed by aggregation of transparent exopolymer particles (mucus).Funding Information
- Russian Science Foundation (19- 17-00246)
- Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation (0128-2021-0012)
This publication has 82 references indexed in Scilit:
- Seasonal and inter-annual variability of chlorophyll-a concentration in the Mauritanian upwelling: Observation of an anomalous event during 1998–1999Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography, 2006
- Circulation in the central equatorial Atlantic: Mean and intraseasonal to seasonal variabilityGeophysical Research Letters, 2006
- On the boundary flow off Brazil at 5–10°S and its connection to the interior tropical AtlanticGeophysical Research Letters, 2002
- Distribution, composition and flux of particulate material over the European margin at 47°–50°NDeep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography, 2001
- A new, mechanistic model for organic carbon fluxes in the ocean based on the quantitative association of POC with ballast mineralsDeep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography, 2001
- Biological and physical signatures in the tropical and subtropical AtlanticPublished by American Geophysical Union (AGU) ,1999
- The mean flow field of the tropical Atlantic OceanDeep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography, 1999
- Crossing of the Equator by the Deep Western Boundary Current in the Western Atlantic OceanJournal of Physical Oceanography, 1993
- “Pycnobathic” Currents over the Upper Continental SlopeJournal of Physical Oceanography, 1985
- Surface suspended matter off western Africa: relations of organic matter, skeletal debris and detrital minerals*Sedimentology, 1979