Meeting times and place: Wednesdays 2:00-3:30pm, Vaughan Hall 100
Special meeting place for May 12th: classroom in Old Scripps Building
Organizers: Readings: Syllabus: Course Goals and Structure: Papers: Assessment:
Roberta Hamme, VH 214, 822-5946,
rhamme@ucsd.edu
Ralph Keeling, VH 213, 534-7582,
rkeeling@ucsd.edu
Date Topics and papers March 31 Organizational Meeting April 7 No class this week April 14 Introduction to nutrient transport problems
Thomas Hayward (1987) The nutrient distribution and primary production in the central North Pacific, Deep-Sea Research, 34(9), pp1593-1627.April 21 Local vertical nutrient transport
W.J. Jenkins (1988) Nitrate flux into the euphotic zone near Bermuda, Nature, 331(6156), pp521-523.
James R. Ledwell, Andrew J. Watson and Clifford S. Law (1993) Evidence for slow mixing across the pycnocline from an open-ocean tracer-release experiment, Nature, 364, pp701-703.April 28 Nitrogen fixation
D. Karl, R. Letelier, L. Tupas, J. Dore, J. Christian, and D. Hebel (1997) The role of nitrogen fixation in the biogeochemical cycling in the subtropical North Pacific Ocean, Nature, 388, pp533-538.May 5 Lateral transport of organic nutrients
Jeffrey Abell, Steve Emerson and Paul Renaud (2000) Distributions of TOP, TON and TOC in the North Pacific subtropical gyre: Implications for nutrient supply in the surface ocean and remineralization in the upper thermocline, Journal of Marine Research, 58, pp203-222.May 12 Eddies Please note different class meeting place above
Richard G. Williams and Michael J. Follows (1998) Eddies make ocean deserts bloom, Nature, 394, pp228-229.
D.J. McGillicuddy Jr, A.R. Robinson, D.A. Siegel, H.W. Jannasch, R. Johnson, T.D. Dickey, J. McNeil, A.F. Michaels and A.H. Knap (1998) Influence of mesoscale eddies on new production in the Sargasso Sea, Nature, 394, pp263-266.May 19 Subpolar production
P.W. Boyd, C.S. Wong, J. Merrill, F, Whitney, J. Snow, P.J. Harrison and J. Gower (1998) Atmospheric iron supply and enhanced vertical carbon flux in the NE subarctic Pacific: Is there a connection?, Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 12(3), pp429-441.May 26 Return path of nutrients to shallow thermocline
J. L. Sarmiento, N. Gruber, M. A. Brzezinski & J. P. Dunne (2004) High-latitude controls of thermocline nutrients and low latitude biological productivity, Nature, 427, pp56-60.June 2 Meridional nutrient fluxes
Paul E. Robbins and Harry L. Bryden (1994) Direct observations of advective nutrient and oxygen fluxes at 24oN in the Pacific Ocean, Deep-Sea Research I, 41(1), pp143-168.
In this discussion group, we would like to explore the controversies and questions swirling around nutrient transport, especially in the North Pacific. Estimates of production in the subtropics exceed the rate at which nutrients can be supplied by local vertical diffusion. What alternative pathways exist to fuel this production? Questions have also arisen about how, in a steady-state ocean, nutrients and DIC transported out of the North Pacific by abyssal currents make their way back. Why hasn’t the North Pacific become completely nutrient depleted over time? We will focus our reading and discussions on trying to understand and answer these questions.
We plan to read a journal article, or a few short ones, for each meeting. An active learning format will then be used to discuss the article during the seminar. One example of how this might work is for the full group to divide into small groups at the beginning of each class meeting. Then each small group will discuss and try to come to some agreement on a different question about the paper. About halfway through the session, the small groups will rejoin and they can each report back to the class on what they came up with for their question. We will probably experiment some to find the format that works best for us.
So far, we have put together a preliminary schedule of journal articles for this class. Suggestions from the group are encouraged, and the schedule will probably shift as these are incorporated into the seminar. Most of the journal articles we will read are available on-line from UCSD IP addresses. You can find links to the papers on the class website.
Each journal article we read will generate different questions. However, there are some general questions that you might consider for every article you read that can help you to prepare for a discussion. Here are some suggestions.
The course is available for one credit, and will be graded S/U (Satisfactory / Unsatisfactory) only. Students are encouraged to sign up for the course even if you will be away part of the quarter for field work, conferences etc...