Approximately half of the photosynthetic production of O2 takes place in the ocean. In addition to producing O2, this process also consumes atmospheric CO2 and is important in evaluating the effects of fossil-fuel burning. Luz and Barkan (p. 2028; see the Perspective by Bender) have developed a new technique for estimating oceanic production that takes advantage of the ability of marine biological activity to erase an isotopic anomaly in 17O that is introduced into O2 by the mass-independent fractionation that occurs in the stratosphere. This technique allows a time-integrated value of production to be calculated.
Assessment of Oceanic
Productivity with the Triple-Isotope Composition of
Dissolved Oxygen
Boaz Luz, Eugeni
Barkan
Plant production in the sea is a primary mechanism of global oxygen formation and carbon fixation. For this reason, and also because the ocean is a major sink for fossil fuel carbon dioxide, much attention has been given to estimating marine primary production. Here, we describe an approach for estimating production of photosynthetic oxygen, based on the isotopic composition of dissolved oxygen of seawater. This method allows the estimation of integrated oceanic productivity on a time scale of weeks.
The Institute of Earth Sciences, The
Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904, Israel.
Correspondence should be addressed to Eugeni Barkan <eugenib@cc.huji.ac.il>
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