DEEP-WATER PARTICLE-FLUX IN THE CANARY ISLAND REGION - SEASONAL TRENDS IN RELATION TO LONG-TERM SATELLITE-DERIVED PIGMENT DATA AND LATERAL SOURCES

We present a 3 year record of deep water particle flux at the recently initiated ESTOC (European Station for Time-series in the Ocean, Canar y Islands) located in the eastern subtropical North Atlantic gyre. Par ticle flux was highly seasonal, with flux maxima occurring in late win ter-early spring. A comparison with historic CZCS (Coastal Zone Colour Scanner) data shows that these flux maxima occurred about 1 month aft er maximum chlorophyll was observed in surface waters in a presumed pr imary source region 100 km x 100 km northeast of the trap location. Th e main components of the particles collected with the traps were miner al particles and carbonate, both correlating strongly with organic mat ter sedimentation. Mineral particles in the sinking matter are indicat ive of the high aeolian input from the African desert regions. Compari ng particle fluxes at 1 km and 3 km depth, we find that particle sedim entation increased substantially with depth. Yearly organic carbon sed imentation was 0.6 g m(-2) at 1 km depth compared with 0.8 g m(-2) at 3 km. We hypothesize that higher phytoplankton biomass observed furthe r north could be a source of laterally advecting particles that intera ct with fast sinking particles originating from the primary source reg ion. This hypothesis is also supported by the differences in size dist ribution of lithogenic matter found at the two trap depths. (C) 1997 E lsevier Science Ltd.