Sinking versus suspended particle size distributions in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre

Cael, B. B. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1317-5718; White, Angelicque E.. 2020 Sinking versus suspended particle size distributions in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. Geophysical Research Letters, 47 (15), e2020GL087825. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL087825

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2020GL087825

Abstract/Summary

The particle size distribution (PSD) is a fundamental property that influences all aspects of phytoplankton ecology. In particular, the size (e.g., diameter d [μm]) and sinking speed w (m/day) of individual particles are inextricable, but much remains unknown about how d and w are related quantitatively for bulk particulate matter. There is significant interest in inferring sinking mass fluxes from PSDs, but doing so requires knowing how both mass and w scale with d . To this end, using both laser diffraction and imaging, we characterized for the first time both sinking and suspended PSDs in the oligotrophic North Pacific subtropical gyre. Comparing these PSDs via a power law parameterization indicates an approximately linear w ‐to‐d scaling, suggesting particles are more fractal‐like than sphere‐like in this respect. This result is robust across multiple instruments, depths, and sediment trap deployments and is made comparatively precise by a high degree of replication.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL087825
ISSN:	0094-8276
Date made live:	31 Jul 2020 13:29 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/528267

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL087825

ISSN:

0094-8276

Date made live:

31 Jul 2020 13:29 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/528267