TY - JOUR
T1 - Evidences of increasing primary production in the ocean by Stommel's perpetual salt fountain
AU - Maruyama, Shigenao
AU - Yabuki, Takashi
AU - Sato, Tetsuya
AU - Tsubaki, Koutaro
AU - Komiya, Atsuki
AU - Watanabe, Mikihito
AU - Kawamura, Hiroshi
AU - Tsukamoto, Katsumi
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank the crews and researchers on cruise KH05-2 of the research vessel Hakuho-maru for their help with the experiment. Comments from three anonymous reviewers were very helpful improving the manuscript. We would also like to acknowledge the financial support of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science , Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B).
PY - 2011/5
Y1 - 2011/5
N2 - The American physical oceanographer Henry Stommel and co-workers proposed "the perpetual salt fountain" and suggested the possibility of upwelling deep seawater without an energy source. In the open ocean, deep seawater containing rich nutrients becomes a source of primary production. Previously, we have tested Stommel's hypothesis by numerical simulations and in ocean experiments, and confirmed the upwelling of a perpetual salt fountain. In the present study, we conducted an open-ocean experiment in the Philippines Sea, and succeeded to demonstrate an increase in chlorophyll concentration. The chlorophyll concentration at the pipe outlet was much greater than that in the surrounding seawater. Satellite ocean-color image around the pipe was analyzed, and the signal of artificial upwelling is investigated. Composite analysis of satellite chlorophyll image indicates an increased surface chlorophyll distribution in the vicinity of pipe position, in which the increasing signal is much larger than the expected production based on nutrient supply. Although the problem must be further discussed, this increased signal is shown to be statistically significant. This mechanism may contribute to effective utilization of fishery resources in subtropical oligotrophic region.
AB - The American physical oceanographer Henry Stommel and co-workers proposed "the perpetual salt fountain" and suggested the possibility of upwelling deep seawater without an energy source. In the open ocean, deep seawater containing rich nutrients becomes a source of primary production. Previously, we have tested Stommel's hypothesis by numerical simulations and in ocean experiments, and confirmed the upwelling of a perpetual salt fountain. In the present study, we conducted an open-ocean experiment in the Philippines Sea, and succeeded to demonstrate an increase in chlorophyll concentration. The chlorophyll concentration at the pipe outlet was much greater than that in the surrounding seawater. Satellite ocean-color image around the pipe was analyzed, and the signal of artificial upwelling is investigated. Composite analysis of satellite chlorophyll image indicates an increased surface chlorophyll distribution in the vicinity of pipe position, in which the increasing signal is much larger than the expected production based on nutrient supply. Although the problem must be further discussed, this increased signal is shown to be statistically significant. This mechanism may contribute to effective utilization of fishery resources in subtropical oligotrophic region.
KW - Artificial upwelling
KW - Chlorophyll concentration
KW - Deep seawater
KW - Perpetual salt fountain
KW - Remote sensing
KW - The North Pacific
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U2 - 10.1016/j.dsr.2011.02.012
DO - 10.1016/j.dsr.2011.02.012
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:79953883078
VL - 58
SP - 567
EP - 574
JO - Deep-Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers
JF - Deep-Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers
SN - 0967-0637
IS - 5
ER -