SUBPROJECTS

SFB 754754 SUBPROJECTS 2ᵑᵈ PHASE sub­ | 2012The

– 2015
www.sfb754.de Climate – Biogeochemistry
The SFB consists of 16 scientific interdisciplinary SFB 754 involves scientists from the Christian-Albrechts
projects that are designed to answer the key questions of the University Kiel (CAU), GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean
SFB 754. Research Kiel and the Max-Planck-Institute Bremen. Interactions in the Tropical Ocean
CIRCULATION AND OXYGEN A B REDOX-DEPENDENT BIOGEOCHEMISTRY

Modern & Future

A3 Tanhua / Visbeck
Oxygen supply tracer release
experiment
MODELLING AND SYNTHESIS
Riebesell / Pahlow
Photoautotrophic responses to
changes in nutrient stoichiometry
B2
A4 Brandt / Körtzinger / Greatbatch
Trends and variability of oxygen A1 B.Simulating
Schneider / Latif
the spatio-temporal
Schmitz-Streit / Kuypers / Bange
Nitrogen losse and nutrient B4

CHEMISTRY
inventory and supply in eastern variability of OMZs from the regeneration in OMZ waters

BIOGEO-
OXYGEN
Holocene to the Anthropocene

PELAGIC
boundary OMZs
B8

SUPPLY
U. Sommer / Melzner
The role of zooplankton in N-, P- and
A5 Stramma / Frank C-cycling and the oxygen budget

Last Century
Water mass structure in the eastern
tropical Pacific Ocean: relationship to A2 Böning / Oschlies
High-resolution modelling of
of tropical OMZs

B9
oxygen variability and geochemical physical-biogeochemical interactions Engel / Kanzow
properties in the tropical ocean Near-coastal supply of oxygen and
dissolved organic matter to the OMZ
A8 Scholten / Dengler
Transport and fluxes across the
bottom boundary layer Oschlies / Dale
B1
Hensen / Wallmann
Biogeochemical cycling of iron and B5

CHEMISTRY
Cretaceous & Holocene
A global model of phosphate under low oxygen conditions

BENTHIC
BIOGEO-
redox-dependent
PERSPECTIVE A6 R. Schneider / Nürnberg / Frank
Influence of centennial to millennial
scale climate change on low-latitude
biogeochemical cycles Treude / S. Sommer / Dullo
Nitrogen turnover and fluxes across B6
the benthic boundary layer under
OMZ conditions varying redox conditions
PALEO

A7 B7
A B
Kuhnt / Wallmann Schönfeld / Eisenhauer
Unraveling the onset and spread Reconstruction of past oxygenation
of Cretaceous anoxia and redox conditions

Ö Dengg
Outreach

OMZ = Oxygen Minimum Zone

Oschlies / R. Schneider
Coordination
Z Stramma / Körtzinger
Research expeditions

CONTACTS
Speaker: Scientific Secretary: Scientific Coordination: The Collaborative Research Centre
Prof. Andreas Oschlies Dr. Lothar Stramma Dr. Christiane Schelten 754 (SFB 754) is funded by the
Tel: +49 431 600 1936 Tel: +49 431 600 4103 Tel: +49 431 600 4242 German Research Foundation (DFG)
Fax: +49 431 600 4469 Fax: +49 431 600 4102 Fax. +49 431 600 4469 since 2008.
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Sonderforschungsbereich 754
Collaborative Research Centre 754
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OVERALL GOALS OF THE SFB 754 HIGHLIGHTS
❙ A high-resolution model indicates major role of equatorial ❙ Successful modelling of non-Redfield stoichiometry in ❙ The pore density in benthic foraminiferal tests of the
❙ Improve understanding of the coupling of and off-equatorial undercurrents in setting oxygen levels in phyto­plankton. species Bolivina spissa from the Peruvian Upwelling was
tropical climate variability and circulation the eastern tropical Atlantic Ocean. found to reflect nitrate availability in ambient seawater
❙ The supply pathways, both lateral and horizontal, for oxygen
with the ocean’s oxygen and nutrient ❙ First in-situ observation of energetic large-amplitude non- to the core of the OMZ have been quantified, with the
since the pores are associated with respiration.
balance linear internal waves and associated mixing along the vertical flux contributing about 1/3 of the total flux.
continental slope and shelf of the Peruvian upwelling region.
❙ Quantitatively evaluate the nature of ❙ Atmospheric CO2 drives geochemical cycling and is For more information visit:
oxygen-sensitive processes ❙ Observational confirmation of spatial/temporal coupling
between N-loss processes and N2-fixation.
a key to understand Cretaceous Oceanic Anoxic
Events (OAEs).
www.sfb754.de
❙ Assess consequences for the ocean’s future

climate controls
sub-surface oxygen
through changes in ARGO
ventilation of water profiling
THE KEY QUESTIONS masses (supply)
and upwelling
ocean production OXYGEN CHANGES CTD-
floats

OF THE SFB 754 (removal) Changes in Oxygen Minimum

glider section
Rosette
Zone (OMZ) intensity and
❙ How does subsurface dissolved oxygen in the tropical O2 availability limi ts
extent have occured through­
ocean respond to variability in ocean circulation and high out Earth’s history. Past
low N2-fixation may Fe binds to
ventilation? be stimulated particles, reduc­tions in oceanic O2 have
by excess Fe sediments
been associated with warmer OXYGEN MINIMUM ZONE
❙ What are the sensitivities and feedbacks linking low or N fixed N Fe Fe can be
remobilised climates and higher CO2.
variable oxygen levels and key nutrient source and sink
mechanisms? In the benthos? In the water column?
nitrogen is
recycled
P Is this analogous for the
tracer release
fixed N can N2-fixation may P can be absorbed
be lost be stimulated on sediments
future? What is possible? experiments sediment
coring
❙ What are the magnitudes and time scales of past, present by excess P P can be remobilised The SFB 754 investigates the
and likely future variations in oceanic oxygen and nutrient evolution of the ocean
levels? On a regional scale? On a global scale? The microbial changes
oxy­ge­­nation during distinct O2 sensors
associated with the »oxygen switch« have a major impact on the
amounts and chemical forms of the key nutrient elements nitrogen, periods of the Cretaceous, at fixed depth bottom lander
phosphorus and iron. These nutrients, in turn, help determine ocean from the end of the last glacial
biological productivity and the oceanic carbon cycle. The ocean’s to the present, and into the
»oxygen switch« has been thrown on and off many times over
geological time, usually in association with major climate changes. future.
© GEOMAR
Wrap-around figure: distribution of oxygen
at about 300 – 500 m depth (σϴ=26.9 kg/m3).