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Euphotic zone concentrations and fluxes of nitrate, ammonium, particulate and dissolved organic nitrogen were measured over an 18 month period at the VERTEX time-series site in the oligotrophic northeast Pacific (33°N, 139°W). Variations in all N-forms were significant but not clearly linked to the temporal hydrographic cycle. Inorganic-N uptake (nitrate + ammonium) from 15 N tracer experiments generally paralleled primary productivity variations, peaking in summer; ammonium accounted for most of the uptake (∼90%) and temporal variability. Comparisons of 15 N results with estimates of autotropic N-uptake from 14 C incorporation into protein suggest that as much as 40% of the annual inorganic-N uptake was due to microheterotrophs; peak heterotrophic N-uptake occurred in summer when heterotrophic biomass was at its maximum. Nitrate uptake (new production) was less variable than ammonium uptake and annually equivalent to particulate nitrogen export from sediment traps. Dissolved organic-N (DON) represented the largest and most variable N-pool, accounting for 80–90% of the total nitrogen in the euphotic zone. Vertical DON gradients, however, were small and temporally invariant, implying little contribution to the biogenic nitrogen export from the euphotic zone.

Particulat organic carbon and nitrogen fluxes measured with free-floating seediment traps deployed six times over an 18-month period were combined with 14C primary production and 15N uptake measurements in order to obtain annual estimates of new production (NP) and associted f-ratios at the VERTEX time-series site. The site, located in the northeast Pacific Ocean at 33°N, 139°W, was occuped at trimonthly intervals to conduct water column studies and to recover/redeploy the sediment traps. The upper 250m of the VERTEX site exhibited considerable variability in some biological properties over seasonal time scales. While integrated photoautotrophic biomass remained relatively constant (0.57 ± 0.1 g C m−2) during the 18-month period, both integrated primary production and particulate ATP varied approximately 2.5-fold, ranging from 220 to 550 mg C m−2d−1 and 0.6–1.5 g C m−2, respectively. There was also considerable variation in both NP and f-ratios over the 18-month sampling period, although most of the NP variability was associated with short-term (i.e

Interzonal diel migrant plankton and nekton obtain organic carbon by feeding at night above the main pycnoline of subtropical and tropical oceans, and respire part of it by day in the interior of the ocean below the pycnocline. Using data from seven oceanic stations, and conservative models to compute respiration at depth, we show that this flux of respiratory carbon ranged from 20 to 430 mg C m−2 d−1 or 13–58% of computed particulate sinking flux across the pycnocline. If this flux occurs consistently between 50°N and 50°S, it will add about 5–20% (depending on method of calculation) to current estimates of global sinking flux of organic carbon across the pycnocline.

At a station (NFLUX), occupied for 10 days in the northern Sargasso Sea, we assembled data to test the hypothesis that diel migrant biota in the open ocean induce a downward flux of dissolved inorganic nitrogen that is significant in relation to the passive flux under gravity of particulate organic nitrogen at the base on the photic zone. We founf taht NH4+ excretion rates by day at depths below the photic zone were approximately 8% of particulate nitrogen flux obtained by a sediment trap array at the same depth. This figure is in the lower part of the range of values calculated previously for 10 published station data sets; we attribute this to the quite high rate of passive flux relative to primary production at the NFLUX station.

In Baffin Bay, phytoplankton populations from the 1% light level were susceptible to photoinhibition whereas populations from the 50% light level were not. Both the initial slope of the light saturation curve and the assimilation number were smaller for the deep samples than for the shallow ones. The optimal irradiance for photosynthesis by the near-surface populations was comparable to the maximum irradiance to which they might be exposed in situ , but that for the populations near the bottom of the photic zone was higher than the populations could experience in situ . The general magnitudes of the photosynthesis parameters for these late summer arctic populations fell towards the low end of the range observed in temperate waters.

A comparison of nitrogen assimilation rates based on uptake of 15 NH 4 + and incorporation of 14 CO 2 into protein at three stations near the Hawaiian Islands indicates that heterotrophic processes accounted for at least 50 to 75% of the NH 4 + uptake. These results suggest that bacteria may compete effectively with phytoplankton for inorganic nutrients in the sea.

Urea concentrations, uptake, and excretion were measured at various locations in northern Baffin Bay and surrounding waters during the summer of 1980. Concentrations were variable ( 2.00 mg-at. N m−3) but followed patterns of decreasing concentration with depth in the euphotic zone and with distance from land. Urea accounted for > 50% of the total dissolved nitrogen in the upper mixed layer at most stations. Urea uptake rates showed generally the same distributional patterns as did concentrations and on the average accounted for 32% of the total nitrogen (NO3− + NH4+ + urea) productivity in the eupholic zone. Ammonium, and frequently NO3−, were utilized in preference to urea. Dual isotope (14C and 15N-urea) labelling experiments suggested that most urea-C was respired as CO2 while 50 to 80% of the urea-N was incorporated by the phytoplankton. Excretion measurements suggested that the four dominant macrozooplankton species (Calanus hyperboreus, C. finmarchicus, C. glacialis, and Metridia sp.) supplied only −3% of the urea-N but –40% of the NH4+-N requirements of the primary producers.