Abstract
The biological pump is one of the important pumping mechanisms absorbing CO$_2$ from the atmosphere into the ocean and can be quantified by estimating new production. New production in the open ocean mostly depends on the supply of nitrate from the water below the mixed layer. While nitrate is affected by many biological processes, the helium isotope ($^3$He) is inert and has very simple physical properties. Using the $^3$He flux and the relation between $^3$He and NO${_3}\;{^-}$- within the thermocline, the nitrate flux supporting new production was estimated in the southern East Sea. The average ${\delta}^3$He within the mixed layer was -14$%_o$ and -l5.4$%_o$ in the winter and autumn, respectively. Through the year excess $^3$He occurs in the mixed layer except for a slight depletion of -17$%_o$ in summer. The $^3$He flux of 13$%_o$md$^{-1}$ associated with the concentration gradient at the air-sea interface was calculated from the product of the piston velocity and the excess $^3$He. Tritium decay within the mixed layer could support only 2$%_o$md$^{-1}$ of the flux. Thus, the remaining 11$%_o$md^{-1}$ could be attributed to the flux of tritiugenic $^3$He from the water below the mixed layer. Nitrate and $^3$He were positively correlated within the thermocline layer with the slope of 0.21 ${\mu}$mol kg$^{-1}$ $%_o\;^{-1}$. The annual nitrate flux estimated from the upward flux of $^3$He and the NO$_{3}\;{^-}$-$^3$He relation was 0.8${\pm}$0.2 mol(N) m$^{-2}$yr$^{-1}$. This flux corresponds to an annual new production of 64 g(C) m$^{-2}$yr$^{-1}$, which is consistent with that in the north-west Pacific.
(OCEAN Lab/school of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Seoul National University)
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