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Particulate Biogenic Silica
Particle Filtration
FTP View Data
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Analytical Method

Samples for elemental analyses of Particulate biogenic silica were collected into 4L polyethylene carboys; filtered through 47 mm polycarbonate filter holders; onto 47 mm polycarbonate, membrane filters; and placed into 50 ml polypropylene centrifuge tubes. Time course subsamples (1.5, 3, 4.5, 6.5 and 24 hours) were measured colorimetrically to distinguish Lithogenic-Si from Biogenic-Si (DeMaster, 1981). The average precisions during 2009 determined from duplicate analyses are presented in the Table below.


PSi
Cruise mean CV
(%)
mean SD
(ng/l)
N
208 30.2 4.992 2
209 7.8 1.747 2
210 15.2 2.376 2
211 18.8 2.090 2
212 9.3 2.574 2
213 12.1 1.697 2
214 17.0 4.501 2
215 9.7 1.110 2
216 27.8 3.041 2
217 7.9 1.248 2
Mean 15.6 2.538 10



Results

Particulate biogenic silica (PSi) concetrations in the surface ocean over the last 13 years of the program are shown in Figure 68 and Figure 69. PSi typically ranges from < 5 to about 25 nmol kg-1 in the upper 100 m of the water column. During the summer months in 1998, 2000 and 2005, PSi increased dramatically in the upper 50 m of the water. This feature appears associated with a large bloom of diatomes, as evidenced from the sharp increases in fucoxanthin (Figure 48)