A MODELING APPROACH TO THE REDFIELD RATIO DEVIATIONS IN THE OCEAN

A study of the relationship among -Delta O-2, Delta N and Delta C was developed when the production or mineralisation of particulate organic matter do not follow the Redfield ratios. A dinoflagellate red tide a nd a diatom spring bloom are shown as two cases where these Redfield d eviations can be found. We propose a new useful tool for modelling wat er mass mixing and net community production budgets, which includes a chemical parameter (''NCO'' = O-2 + R-N. NO3(1-R-cs/R-c) + R-cs. CO2) of general application where ''NCO'' indicates the involved variables (Nitrate-CO2-Oxygen). R-N and R-C are the fixed Redfield ratios and R- cs is the relationship between oxygen consumed and CO2 assimilated cor responding to storage substances. The R-cs value depends on the nature of the storage substances. Generally these substances are carbohydrat es and the value of R-cs = 1.