Fluxes of carbon and nutrients to the Iceland Sea surface layer and inferred primary productivity and stoichiometry

Abstract

This study evaluates long-term mean fluxes of carbon and nutrients to the upper 100m of the Iceland Sea. The study utilises hydro-chemical data from the Iceland Sea time series station (68.00 N, 12.67 W), for the years between 1993 and 2006. By comparing data of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and nutrients in the surface layer (upper 100 m), and a sub-surface layer (100–200 m), we calculate monthly deficits in the surface, and use these to deduce the long-term mean surface layer fluxes that affect the deficits: vertical mixing, horizontal advection, air–sea exchange, and biological activity. The deficits show a clear seasonality with a minimum in winter, when the mixed layer is at the deepest, and a maximum in early autumn, when biological uptake has removed much of the nutrients. (...)