Iron Fertilization with Enhanced Phytoplankton Productivity under Minimal Sulfur Compounds and Grazing Control Analysis in HNLC Region

The present study investigated quantitatively the significance of HNLC (high-nutrient low-chlorophyll) regions and its grazing control with the improved iron fertilization for climate change. The limitation of iron (Fe) for phytoplankton growth in HNLC regions was confirmed by sulfur compounds (S) such as volcanic ash and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in batch cultures, whose chemical sediment of Fe3S4 showed 4.06 wt%. The technologies developed for iron fertilization since 1993 till now were not practical to provide sufficient amounts of bioavailable iron due to sedimentary iron sulfides induced by undersea volcanic sulfur compounds. The proposed technology for iron fertilization was improved to enhance the bioavailable iron to phytoplankton by keeping minimal sulfur compounds in HNLC regions. The low productivity of phytoplankton by grazing control in HNLC regions was 6% diatoms whose 52% was grazed by copepods and 42% by krill on the basis of data analysis in 2000 EisenEx Experiment at boundary of Antarctic and African tectonic plates. All of the previous iron fertilization experiments were conducted at volcanic sulfur compounds enriched HNLC regions. The present study revealed that the enhanced phytoplankton productivity in batch culture without sedimentary iron sulfides can be possible only if sulfur compounds are minimal, as is in Shag Rocks (53°S, 42°W) of South Georgia in Scotia Sea in the Southern Ocean.

Atmospheric deposition of 7Be,210Pb and 210Po during typhoons and thunderstorm in Shanghai, China and global data synthesis

Atmospherically-delivered ~7Be,^(210)Po and ^(210)Pb in bulk precipitation and air samples collected around the globe have provided valuable quantification on the rates of removal, as well as proportional mixing of attendant air masses;however, such studies during thunderstorm and typhoon events are limited. We report the first continuous time-series rainwater sampling and analysis of ~7Be,^(210)Pb and ^(210)Po from two typhoons and one thunderstorm during 2015 summer in Shanghai. The depositional fluxes within individual rain events of typhoons and thunderstorms varied by a factor of 10 for ~7Be, 5.7 for ^(210)Pb, 7.4 for ^(210)Po,and 7.0 for ~7Be/^(210)Pb activity ratios(AR). Such large observed variations in the depositional fluxes of ~7Be,^(210)Pb,^(210)Po and ~7Be/^(210)Pb activity ratios were attributed to air masses injected from surrounding high pressure system adjoining the typhoon to low pressure system within the typhoon. Based on ~7Be/^(210)Pb activity ratios, we estimated the variations in the fraction of maritime and continental air masses into the typhoon. Observed constancy in the ^(210)Po/^(210)Pb AR indicates that the residence times of air masses contributing to the typhoon during heavy rain are similar. From a synthesis of global fallout of ~7Be and ^(210)Pb during pulse events(precipitation≥50 mm from single rainout event), we quantify the importance of pulse events in the atmospheric fallout of these radionuclides.