High-resolution observations on enrichment processes in the sea-surface microlayer.

ABSTRACT: For decades, researchers assumed that enrichment of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the sea surface microlayer (SML) is solely controlled by changes in the DOM concentration at this uppermost thin boundary layer between the ocean and the atmosphere. We conducted high-resolution observations of fluorescent-DOM (FDOM) at 13 stations in the coastal and open Atlantic Ocean to understand the enrichment processes. Results show that FDOM enrichment in the SML varied between 0.8 and 2.0 (in comparison to the concentrations in the underlying water; ULW), and FDOM enrichment is a common feature of the SML despite the varied distances to the terrestrial sources. At six stations, the FDOM concentration in the SML was less variable over the sampling period (>5 h) compared to FDOM concentrations in th

SUBMITTER: Mustaffa NIH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6120901 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature