Subpolar marginal seas fuel the North Pacific through the intermediate water at the termination of the global ocean circulation

Abstract

The mechanism by which nutrients in the deep ocean are uplifted to maintain nutrient-rich surface waters in the subarctic Pacific has not been properly described. The iron (Fe) supply processes that control biological production in the nutrient-rich waters are also still under debate. Here, we report the processes that determine the chemical properties of intermediate water and the uplift of Fe and nutrients to the main thermocline, which eventually maintains surface biological productivity. Extremely nutrient-rich water is pooled in intermediate water (26.8 to 27.6 σθ) in the western subarctic area, especially in the Bering Sea basin. Increases of two to four orders in the upward turbulent fluxes of nutrients were observed around the marginal sea island chains, indicating that nutrients are uplifted to the surface and are returned to the subarctic intermediate nutrient pool as sinking particles through the biological production and microbial degradation of organic substances. This nutrient circulation coupled with the dissolved Fe in upper-intermediate water (26.6 to 27.0 σθ) derived from the Okhotsk Sea evidently constructs an area that has one of the largest biological CO2drawdowns in the world ocean. These results highlight the pivotal roles of the marginal seas and the formation of intermediate water at the end of the ocean conveyor belt.