This week in Science

Disappearing in the Twilight Zone

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/316/5824/511c?rss=1

Science 27 April 2007:
Vol. 316. no. 5824, p. 511
DOI: 10.1126/science.316.5824.511c

This Week in Science

Most of the organic carbon produced in the sunlit upper layer of the ocean is recycled (remineralized) as dead organisms sink to greater depths, but there is considerable uncertainty about how efficient this remineralization process is in the ocean's "twilight zone" (depths between the bottom of the euphotic zone and about 1000 meters). Buesseler et al. (p. 567, see the cover) have used neutrally buoyant sediment traps that can sample sinking particles more faithfully than traps moored in fixed spots that are subject to strong cross-flow from ocean currents. The transfer efficiency of sinking particulate organic matter differed by more than a factor of 2 between the two sites examined; this difference is poorly represented in present biogeochemical models.