Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/Z000467/1
NSFGEO-NERC: The Colloidal Shunt as a Critical Nexus of the Ocean Iron and Carbon Cycles
Grant Award
- Principal Investigator:
- Professor A Tagliabue, University of Liverpool, Earth, Ocean and Ecological Sciences
- Grant held at:
- University of Liverpool, Earth, Ocean and Ecological Sciences
- Science Area:
- Atmospheric
- Earth
- Freshwater
- Marine
- Terrestrial
- Overall Classification:
- Panel B
- ENRIs:
- Biodiversity
- Environmental Risks and Hazards
- Global Change
- Natural Resource Management
- Pollution and Waste
- Science Topics:
- Biogeochemical Cycles
- Abstract:
- The oceanic cycles of iron and carbon are tightly coupled. The supply of dissolved iron regulates ocean biology and biogeochemistry, and organic carbon species impact the solubility and biological availability of iron in seawater. As such, a full mechanistic understanding of the ocean iron cycle and its linkages with the pools and transformations of organic carbon are required to accurately model ocean biogeochemistry and biology, and to explore past, present, and future changes in ocean biogeochemistry and marine primary production. The proposed research aims to characterize these interactions by combining field data from contrasting ocean regimes in the subtropical and tropical North Atlantic with targeted experimental studies and numerical modeling experiments. Specifically, this project will examine the newly identified 'colloidal shunt' mechanism, whereby a portion of the dissolved iron pool in the colloidal size range is not stabilized by complexation with organic ligands but is instead subject to aggregation to form authigenic particulate iron that sinks out of the upper water column - a conceptual model inferred from a prior NSF- NERC collaborative award. In particular, the research will examine the role of dissolved organic carbon and iron-binding organic ligands in mediating the colloidal shunt, the association of organic matter with thus-formed authigenic particulate iron phases, and the dissolution of these phases in the ocean interior including the role of interior oxygen gradients. Potentially transformative implications of this research are that the colloidal shunt might vary in response to climate driven changes in ocean oxygenation, and that this process may provide a conduit for the vertical export of both particulate iron and organic carbon that augments the biological carbon pump in the subtropical and tropical oceans.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/Z000467/1
- Grant Stage:
- Awaiting Authorisation
- Scheme:
- Standard Grant FEC
- Grant Status:
- Approved
- Programme:
- Lead Agency Grant
This grant award has a total value of £251,822
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Indirect - Indirect Costs | DA - Investigators | DA - Estate Costs | DI - Staff | DI - T&S | DA - Other Directly Allocated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £109,777 | £30,404 | £34,576 | £67,514 | £6,722 | £2,828 |
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