HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL REMOVAL OF ORGANIC-CARBON IN THE EQUATORIAL PACIFIC-OCEAN - A MASS-BALANCE ASSESSMENT

Mass balance calculations were performed to assess the relative contri butions of vertical export and horizontal advection of organic carbon and nitrogen from the central and western equatorial Pacific Ocean. Th e results of the analyses indicate that approximately 20% of the net c ommunity production in the region accumulates in the surface layer as suspended or dissolved organic matter. It is these fractions that have the potential to be removed from the equator via advection. The balan ce of net community production (approximately 80%) must be exported ve rtically as sinking organic particles. Using published estimates of ne w production in the equatorial Pacific during 1992, we estimate net or ganic carbon production available for removal from the equator by hori zontal advection during that period to have been 0.07-0.18 Pg C year(- 1). (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.