The role of iron in the biogeochemistry of the Southern Ocean and equatorial Pacific: a comparison of in situ iron enrichments

A better understanding of the relationship between iron supply and the biogeochemical functioning of high nitrate low chlorophyll (HNLC) regions may be obtained by comparing and contrasting observations from oceanic provinces. The open polar Southern Ocean and the eastern equatorial Pacific are HNLC regimes, but have different oceanographic properties. Until recently, there have been insufficient datasets on the role of iron (mainly from deckboard iron enrichments) to enable a comprehensive comparison of these regions. However, the recent Southern Ocean Iron RElease Experiment (SOIREE), the first in situ iron enrichment in polar waters, provides a detailed suite of time-series measurements to compare with those from the equatorial Pacific IronEx II study. As expected, a comparison of these polar and tropical studies yielded differences in the timing of iron-mediated responses that are mainly due to the temperature-dependence of biological rates. However, trends from both studies are similar with respect to the magnitude of iron-mediated changes in bulk signals (such as macronutrient uptake), algal physiological responses, and shifts in algal community structure. There are also parallels between these studies in the response of components of the pelagic ecosystem such as heterotrophic bacteria. Such convergence suggests that it is possible to incorporate considerable detail into future generic models investigating the role of the biota in the biogeochemical cycling of iron. There are also significant differences, such as the degree of herbivory, and the fate of the accumulated algal carbon during these two iron-stimulated phytoplankton blooms. Such departures offer a means to understand better important regional differences in the biogeochemical cycling of iron in HNLC waters, and to investigate the possible effects of physical artefacts—caused by mixing with surrounding HNLC waters at the boundaries of these labelled patches—during such mesoscale perturbation experiments.