News

Cold-Water Coral Reefs in the Oxygen Minimum Zones Off West Africa

Abstract.

"The discoveries of large reefs within cold-water coral mound provinces revealed that the West African margin is a coral hotspot area in the Atlantic Ocean. The most striking observation is that cold-water corals thrive in extensive oxygen minimum zones under extreme conditions. This points to a wide tolerance of cold-water corals in these regions to low oxygen concentrations. The coral mound provinces off Mauritania, Angola, and Namibia, which are located in the centre of the local oxygen minimum zones, were selected as key study areas, and their regional oceanographic, bio-ecological, and geo-morphological settings are described in detail. [...]".

 

Source: Springer Nature
Authors: Claudia Wienberg et al.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40897-7_8

Read the full article here.


Preprint: Hypoxia also occurs in small highly turbid estuaries: the example of the Charente (Bay of Biscay)

Abstract.

"The French coast facing the Bay of Biscay (north-east Atlantic) is characterised by the presence of small macrotidal and turbid estuaries, including the Charente, geographically located between the two large estuaries of the Gironde and the Loire (south-west France). Multi-year, multi-site, high-frequency water quality surveys have shown that the Loire, and to a lesser extent the Gironde, suffer from summer hypoxia. These observations raised the question of the possible occurrence of hypoxia, particularly in one of these small estuaries, the Charente, which flows into the Bay of Marennes-Oléron, the first oyster-producing area in France. [...]".

 

Source: Biogeosciences
Authors: Sabine Schmidt & Ibrahima I. Diallo
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2023-150

Read the full article here.


Natural hypoxic conditions do not affect the respiration rates of the cold-water coral Desmophyllum pertusum (Lophelia pertusa) ...

Full title: "Natural hypoxic conditions do not affect the respiration rates of the cold-water coral Desmophyllum pertusum (Lophelia pertusa) living in the Angola margin (Southeastern Atlantic Ocean)"

Abstract.

"Large, well-developed and flourishing reefs dominated by the cold-water coral Desmophyllum pertusum have recently been discovered along the Angola margin in the southeastern Atlantic Ocean living under very low oxygen concentrations (0.6–1.5 mL L−1). This study assessed the respiration rates of this coral in a short-term (10 days) aquarium experiment under naturally [...]".

 

Source: Science Direct
Authors: Andrea Gori et al.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2023.104052

Read the full article here.


Can Oxygen Utilization Rate Be Used to Track the Long-Term Changes of Aerobic Respiration in the Mesopelagic Atlantic Ocean?

Abstract.

"Quantifying changes in oceanic aerobic respiration is essential for understanding marine deoxygenation. Here we use an Earth system model to investigate if and to what extent oxygen utilization rate (OUR) can be used to track the temporal change of true respiration (Rtrue). Rtrue results from the degradation of particulate and dissolved organic matter in the model ocean, acting as ground truth to evaluate the accuracy of OUR. Results show that in thermocline and intermediate waters of the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre (200–1,000 m), vertically integrated OUR and Rtrue both decrease by 0.2 molO2/m2/yr from 1850 to 2100 under global warming. [...]".

 

Source: Wiley Online Library
Authors: Haichao Guo et al.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL102645

Read the full article here.


Phytoplankton dynamics and nitrogen cycling during Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 (Cenomanian/Turonian) in the upwelling zone of the NE proto-North Atlantic

Abstract. 

"The Cenomanian-Turonian (Late Cretaceous) climate warming was closely coupled to profound perturbations of biogeochemical cycles and ecosystems. The occurrence of organic matter-rich sediments across various depositional environments of the proto-North Atlantic hereby marks severe oxygen-deficient conditions, culminating in Oceanic Anoxic Event (OAE 2) at the Cenomanian/Turonian boundary. Here we combine bulk, isotope and molecular geochemical techniques to characterize trends in organic matter accumulation and its relationship to biogeochemical cycling (nitrogen, carbon) and marine phytoplankton community shifts [...]". 

 

Source: Science Direct
Authors: Wolfgang Ruebsam & Lorenz Schwark
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2023.104117

Read the full article here.


Temporal and spatial variability in hydrography and dissolved oxygen along southwest Nova Scotia using glider observations

Abstract. 

"Dissolved oxygen (DO) in the global ocean is on the decline, resulting in the degradation of coastal habitats. As aquaculture production occurs in these regions, proper understanding of coastal DO dynamics is important for improved farm management (e.g. site selection). The main objective of this study was to quantify along-shore and cross-shore variability in DO dynamics, as well as onshore advection of offshore waters to the bays that could contain aquaculture farms. [...]".

 

Source: Science Direct 
Authors: Meredith Burke et al.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csr.2022.104908

Read the full article here.


Nitrous Oxide Distributions in the Oxygenated Water Column of the Sargasso Sea

Abstract. 

"This study presents dissolved nitrous oxide (N2O) concentrations in the water column at the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study (BATS) station and uses a subset of these measurements to estimate air-to-sea flux for four specific time points between September 2018 and June 2019. N2O concentrations at BATS were in the range of 4.0 nmol L−1–16.9 nmol L−1, with vertical profiles which were the mirror inverse of dissolved oxygen. Regardless of season, N2O concentration maxima were found within the oxygen minimum zone (OMZ). The highest maximum N2O values were observed in November and lowest in October. [...]".

 

Source: Taylor & Francis Online
Authors: Annaliese C.S. Meyer et al. 
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/07055900.2022.2153325

Read the full article here.


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