The Outsized Role of Salps in Carbon Export in the Subarctic Northeast Pacific Ocean

Periodic blooms of salps (pelagic tunicates) can result in high export of organic matter, leading to an “outsized” role in the ocean's biological carbon pump (BCP). However, due to their episodic and patchy nature, salp blooms often go undetected and are rarely included in measurements or model...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Global biogeochemical cycles 2023-01, Vol.37 (1), p.e2022GB007523-n/a
Main Authors: Steinberg, Deborah K., Stamieszkin, Karen, Maas, Amy E., Durkin, Colleen A., Passow, Uta, Estapa, Margaret L., Omand, Melissa M., McDonnell, Andrew M. P., Karp‐Boss, Lee, Galbraith, Moira, Siegel, David A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Active transport
Biogeochemical Cycles, Processes, and Modeling
Biogeochemical Kinetics and Reaction Modeling
Biogeochemistry
Biogeosciences
biological carbon pump
Carbon
Carbon Cycling
Carbon sequestration
Carcasses
Cryosphere
diel vertical migration
Diel, Seasonal, and Annual Cycles
Diurnal, Seasonal, and Annual Cycles
Ecosystems, Structure and Dynamics
Ecosystems, Structure, Dynamics, and Modeling
Euphotic zone
Faecal pellets
fecal pellet
Fluctuations
gelatinous zooplankton
Global Change
Marine invertebrates
Marine Systems
mesopelagic zone
Microorganisms
Net Primary Productivity
Oceanography: Biological and Chemical
Oceanography: General
Oceans
Organic carbon
Organic matter
Paleoceanography
particle flux
Particulate organic carbon
Pellets
Primary production
respiration
Salp blooms
Sinking
Vertical migration
Vertical migrations
Zooplankton
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Summary:Periodic blooms of salps (pelagic tunicates) can result in high export of organic matter, leading to an “outsized” role in the ocean's biological carbon pump (BCP). However, due to their episodic and patchy nature, salp blooms often go undetected and are rarely included in measurements or models of the BCP. We quantified salp‐mediated export processes in the northeast subarctic Pacific Ocean in summer of 2018 during a bloom of Salpa aspera. Salps migrated from 300 to 750 m during the day into the upper 100 m at night. Salp fecal pellet production comprised up to 82% of the particulate organic carbon (POC) produced as fecal pellets by the entire epipelagic zooplankton community. Rapid sinking velocities of salp pellets (400–1,200 m d−1) and low microbial respiration rates on pellets (
ISSN:0886-6236
1944-9224
DOI:10.1029/2022GB007523