Atmospheric deposition in the Eastern Mediterranean. A driving force for ecosystem dynamics

作者：Christodoulaki S; Petihakis G; Kanakidou M^*; Mihalopoulos N; Tsiaras K; Triantafyllou G

来源：Journal of Marine Systems, 2013, 109: 78-93.

DOI：10.1016/j.jmarsys.2012.07.007

• Atmospheric deposition
• Nutrients
• Nitrogen
• Phosphorus
• Eastern Mediterranean
• Marine productivity

This study investigates the impact of atmospheric deposition on the marine ecosystem of the East Mediterranean Sea. Atmospheric deposition has been suggested to be more important than land inputs of nutrients to the East Mediterranean Sea. For the first time, atmospheric deposition measurements of dissolved inorganic phosphorous and nitrogen over Crete are used together with marine ecosystem observations in the Cretan Sea and a one-dimension physical/biogeochemical marine model. The adopted model configuration successfully reproduces observations of production rates and biomasses of phytoplankton and bacteria in the region. The atmospheric deposition of N and P to the East Mediterranean is shown to increase the primary production by 1-35% depending on season with the maximum impact calculated for summer and fall. Biomasses subsequently increase by 2-26% for phytoplankton and up to 7% for bacteria The total organic carbon integrated year-around in the first 200 m of the water column increases by about 30%. The results also show the importance of the rate of P preferential to N remineralization in the upper sea water layer for the marine productivity. Simulations indicate that continuous atmospheric inputs of nutrients over several decades can maintain the anomalously high N-to-P ratio observed in the East Mediterranean seawater.

• 出版日期2013-1