Project: Southern Ocean Iron Experiment

Acronym/Short Name:

SOFeX

Project URL:

Project Web Site

Start Date:

2002-01

End Date:

2002-03

Geolocation:

Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand

Programs:

Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry [OCB]

Iron Synthesis [FeSynth]

Expand/Collapse All

Description

Before he passed away in 1993, John Martin suggested that an increase in the flow of iron-rich dust to the ocean causes phytoplankton (single celled algae) to grow. The increased photosynthesis removes carbon dioxide from surface waters as the algae create biomass. This carbon dioxide is replaced by carbon dioxide gas that flows into the sea from the atmosphere. Reduced carbon dioxide in the atmosphere cools the planet (CO2 is a greenhouse gas that warms the earth). The results of this work, funded by the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, and the US Coast Guard, will be a much better understanding of how biological processes may regulate climate. (see Related Info: Fe cycle)

A direct test of the 'Martin Hypothesis' that trace concentrations of Fe are responsible for phytoplankton's ability to grow by direct experimental addition of Fe to the surface waters. Consequently the distribution of bioavailable Fe in the surface waters determines large geographical areas primary production and the following flux of fixed organic matter to the deep sea. The aim of the SOFeX project is to investigate the effects of iron fertilization on the productivity of the Southern Ocean. The results of this work will contribute significantly to our understanding of important biogeochemical processes which bear directly on the global carbon cycle, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration, and climate control.

The SOFeX-N and SOFeX-S designations are sometimes used to distinguish between two iron enriched patches - one in low silicate waters north of the polar front (SOFEX-N), and the other in high silicate waters south of the polar front (SOFEX-S). All three ships, Melville (MV), Revelle (RR) and Polar Star (PS), worked in SOFEX-S, but only the Revelle and Melville worked in the SOFeX N patch and shuttled between the two patches.

More Information

Funding

Funding Source	Award Number
National Science Foundation	unknown SOFeX NSF

Dataset Collections

Dataset Short Name	Full Dataset Title
bacteria	Bacterial abundance and production from bottle samples from R/V Melville cruise COOK19MV from the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand in 2002 (SOFeX project)
bottle_BC_PS	Salinity, SF6 and chlorophyll-a from bottle cast samples from USCGC Polar Star cruise PS02_2002 from the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand in 2002 (SOFeX project)
bottle_salts_PS	Polar Star bottle salts for CTD conductivity sensor calibration from USCGC Polar Star cruise PS02_2002 from the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand in 2002 (SOFeX project)
bottle_samples_PS	Combined water sample data from variety of sampling devices from USCGC Polar Star cruise PS02_2002 in the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand in 2002 (SOFeX project)
bottle_SIO	SIO-CTD rosette bottle basic CTD hydrographic and nutrient data from R/V Melville, R/V Roger Revelle cruises COOK19MV, DRFT08RR from the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand in 2002 (SOFeX project)
bottle_TM_RR	Trace Metal clean rosette bottle hydrographic and nutrient data from R/V Roger Revelle cruise DRFT08RR from the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand in 2002 (SOFeX project)
chlorophyll underway	Fluorometric chlorophyll from SCUFA underway sampling apparatus from R/V Melville cruise COOK19MV from the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand in 2002 (SOFeX project)
chlorophyll_profile	Fluorometric chlorophyll from Niskin and TM bottle samples from R/V Melville, R/V Roger Revelle cruises COOK19MV, DRFT08RR from the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand in 2002 (SOFeX project)
cruise description	SOFeX cruise narrative from USCGC Polar Star, R/V Melville, R/V Roger Revelle cruises PS02_2002, COOK19MV, DRFT08RR from the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand, Southern Ocean in 2002 (SOFeX project)
CTD	SOFeX project CTD profile data from R/V Melville, R/V Roger Revelle, USCGC Polar Star cruises COOK19MV, DRFT08RR, PS02_2002 from the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand in 2002 (SOFeX project)
CTD underway	Unprocessed CTD data from the ship's underway system from R/V Melville cruise COOK19MV from the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand in 2002 (SOFeX project)
CTD_BC_PS	SeaBird SeaCat SBE-19 CTD profiler data from bottle casts (BC) from USCGC Polar Star cruise PS02_2002 in the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand in 2002 (SOFeX project)
CTD_TMR_SFX_RR	TMR CTD pressure, temperature, salinity profiles from R/V Roger Revelle cruise DRFT08RR from the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand in 2002 (SOFeX project)
CTD_transect_PS	CTD profile data from Polar Star Transect 1 from USCGC Polar Star cruise PS02_2002 from the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand in 2002 (SOFeX project)
drifter navigation	SOFeX project South Patch Drifter Navigation from R/V Melville cruise COOK19MV from the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand in 2002 (SOFeX project)
inventory	SOFeX Cruise Data Inventory from R/V Melville, R/V Roger Revelle, USCGC Polar Star cruises COOK19MV, DRFT08RR, PS02_2002 from the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand in 2002 (SOFeX project)
iron_underway	Underway measurement of Iron (Fe (III)) from R/V Roger Revelle cruise DRFT08RR from the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand in 2002 (SOFeX project)
log_SFX	SOFeX multi-ship sampling event log from R/V Melville, R/V Roger Revelle, USCGC Polar Star cruises COOK19MV, DRFT08RR, PS02_2002 from the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand in 2002 (SOFeX project)
log_SFX_MV	SOFeX Melville cruise sampling event log from R/V Melville cruise COOK19MV from the Southern Ocean in 2002 (SOFeX project)
log_SFX_PS	SOFeX Polar Star Cruise sampling event log from USCGC Polar Star cruise PS02_2002 from the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand in 2002 (SOFeX project)
log_SFX_RR	SOFeX Revelle cruise sampling event log from R/V Roger Revelle cruise DRFT08RR from the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand in 2002 (SOFeX project)
LVP_pump	Carbon and nitrogen concentration from filtered in situ LVP pump samples from SOFeX cruises PS02_2002, COOK19MV from the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand, Southern Ocean in 2002 (SOFeX project)
nano_microplankton	Nano- and microplankton biomass, epifluorescence microscopy from R/V Melville, R/V Roger Revelle cruises COOK19MV, DRFT08RR from the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand in 2002 (SOFeX project)
nutrients-Dilution exp	Nutrient concentrations from bottle sample dilution experiments from R/V Melville cruise COOK19MV from the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand in 2002 (SOFeX project)
nutrients-enrichment exp	Nutrient concentrations from bottle sample enrichment experiments from R/V Melville cruise COOK19MV from the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand in 2002 (SOFeX project)
nutrients-underway	Nutrient measurements from underway flow-through system from R/V Melville cruise COOK19MV from the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand in 2002 (SOFeX project)
nutrients_bottle	Nutrient concentrations and chlorophyll from bottle samples from R/V Melville cruise COOK19MV from the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand in 2002 (SOFeX project)
PAR	Downwelling PAR measured above the surface of the ocean from R/V Melville cruise COOK19MV from the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand in 2002 (SOFeX project)
pigments HPLC	Pigments from HPLC analysis of bottle samples from SOFeX cruisse PS02_2002, COOK19MV, DRFT08RR from the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand, Southern Ocean in 2002 (SOFeX project)
POM	Particulate Organic Matter (POM) from R/V Melville, R/V Roger Revelle cruises COOK19MV, DRFT08RR from the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand in 2002 (SOFeX project)
POM_MV	Particulate Organic Matter (POM) from Niskin and Trace Metal clean bottles from R/V Melville cruise COOK19MV from the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand in 2002 (SOFeX project)
primary_production	Primary Productivity and chlorophyll from bottle samples from R/V Melville, R/V Roger Revelle cruises COOK19MV, DRFT08RR from the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand in 2002 (SOFeX project)
SFX Patch Determination	SOFeX Revelle SF6 Patch Determination Table from R/V Roger Revelle cruise DRFT08RR from the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand in 2002 (SOFeX project)
SFX Survey Summary	SOFeX Revelle surveys and iron additions from R/V Roger Revelle cruise DRFT08RR from the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand in 2002 (SOFeX project)
ship_schedules_SFX	Ship activity schedule PDF from USCGC Polar Star, R/V Roger Revelle, R/V Melville cruises PS02_2002, DRFT08RR, COOK19MV from the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand, Southern Ocean in 2002 (SOFeX project)
ship_track_SFX	SOFeX project cruise track animation from R/V Melville, R/V Roger Revelle, USCGC Polar Star cruises COOK19MV, DRFT08RR, PS02_2002 from the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand in 2002 (SOFeX project)
Thorium-234	Thorium 234, POC and biogenic silica from R/V Melville, USCGC Polar Star cruises COOK19MV, PS02_2002 from the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand in 2002 (SOFeX project)
Thorium-234 Uranium-238	Thorium-234 and Uranium-238 from R/V Melville, USCGC Polar Star cruises COOK19MV, PS02_2002 from the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand in 2002 (SOFeX project)
XBT_SFX_PS	SOFeX Polar Star XBT temperature profiles from USCGC Polar Star cruise PS02_2002 from the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand in 2002 (SOFeX project)

Deployments

Total: 3

Cruise/Deployment	Platform Type	Start Date	Chief/Co-chief Scientist
COOK19MV	vessel	19 Jan 2002	Kenneth H. Coale
DRFT08RR	vessel	06 Jan 2002	Ken Johnson
PS02_2002	vessel	11 Feb 2002	Kenneth O. Buesseler

Project Coordinators

Person	Roles	Affiliation
Kenneth H. Coale	Lead Principal Investigator	Moss Landing Marine Laboratories (MLML)
Kenneth O. Buesseler	Co-Principal Investigator	Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI)
Ken Johnson	Co-Principal Investigator, Contact	Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI)
Stephen R. Gegg	BCO-DMO Data Manager	Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI BCO-DMO)

Status message

Database

Contribute Data

Project: Southern Ocean Iron Experiment