Leobener Straße

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) is ubiquitous in natural waters and plays a central role in the biogeochemistry in riverine, estuarine and marine environments. This study quantifies and characterizes solid-phase extractable DOM and trace element complexation at different salinities in the Weser and Elbe River, northern Germany, and the North Sea. Dissolved organic carbon (DOC), total dissolved nitrogen (TDN), Co and Cu concentrations were analyzed in original water samples.

Dittmar et al. proposed that mixing alone can explain our observed decrease in marine dissolved organic sulfur with age. However, their simple model lacks an explanation for the origin of sulfur-depleted organic matter in the deep ocean and cannot adequately reproduce our observed stoichiometric changes. Using radiocarbon age also implicitly models the preferential cycling of sulfur that they are disputing.

Although sulfur is an essential element for marine primary production and critical for climate processes, little is known about the oceanic pool of nonvolatile dissolved organic sulfur (DOS). We present a basin-scale distribution of solid-phase extractable DOS in the East Atlantic Ocean and the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean.