Biogeosciences
www.biogeosciences.net
1726-4170
1726-4189
3
4
2006
10.5194/bg-3-557-2006
http://www.biogeosciences.net/3/557/2006/
http://www.biogeosciences.net/3/557/2006/bg-3-557-2006.html
http://www.biogeosciences.net/3/557/2006/bg-3-557-2006.pdf
557
570
2006-11-21
Distribution of N<sub>2</sub>O in the Baltic Sea during transition from anoxic to oxic conditions
S. Walter
s.walter@phys.uu.nl
U. Breitenbach
H. W. Bange
G. Nausch
D. W. R. Wallace
Forschungsbereich Marine Biogeochemie, IFM-GEOMAR, Leibniz-Institut für Meereswissenschaften, Kiel, Germany
Leibniz-Institut für Ostseeforschung, Warnemünde, Germany
now at: Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research Utrecht, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
In January 2003, a major inflow of cold and oxygen-rich North Sea Water
terminated an ongoing stagnation period in parts of the central Baltic Sea.
In order to investigate the role of North Sea Water inflow in the production
of nitrous oxide (N<sub>2</sub>O), we measured dissolved and atmospheric N<<sub>2</sub>O
at 26 stations in the southern and central Baltic Sea in October 2003.
<br><br>
At the time of our cruise, water renewal had proceeded to the eastern
Gotland Basin, whereas the western Gotland Basin was still unaffected by the
inflow. The deep water renewal was detectable in the distributions of
temperature, salinity, and oxygen concentrations as well as in the
distribution of the N<sub>2</sub>O concentrations: Shallow stations in the Kiel
Bight and Pomeranian Bight were well-ventilated with uniform N<sub>2</sub>O
concentrations near equilibrium throughout the water column. In contrast,
stations in the deep basins, such as the Bornholm and the Gotland Deep,
showed a clear stratification with deep water affected by North Sea Water.
Inflowing North Sea Water led to changed environmental conditions,
especially enhanced oxygen (O<sub>2</sub>) or declining hydrogen sulphide
(H<sub>2</sub>S) concentrations, thus, affecting the conditions for the production
of N<sub>2</sub>O. Pattern of N<sub>2</sub>O profiles and correlations with parameters
like oxygen and nitrate differed between the basins. Because of the positive
correlation between ΔN<sub>2</sub>O and AOU in oxic waters the dominant
production pathway seems to be nitrification rather than denitrification.
<br><br>
Advection of N<sub>2</sub>O by North Sea Water was found to be of minor
importance. A rough budget revealed a significant surplus of in situ
produced N<sub>2</sub>O after the inflow. However, due to the permanent halocline,
it can be assumed that the N<sub>2</sub>O produced does not reach the atmosphere.
Hydrographic aspects therefore are decisive factors determining the final
release of N<sub>2</sub>O produced to the atmosphere.
Bange, H. W., Rapsomanikis, S., and Andreae, M. O.: Nitrous oxide in coastal waters, Global Biogeochem. Cycles, 10(1), 197–207, 1996.
Bange, H. W., Rapsomanikis, S., and Andreae, M. O.: Nitrous oxide cycling in the Arabian Sea, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 106(C1), 1053–1065, 2001.
Bauer, S.: Structure and function of nitrifying bacterial communities in the Eastern Gotland Basin (Central Baltic Sea), Rostock, Univ., Diss., 2003, H 2003 B 4373, 2003.
Baumann, B., Snozzi, M., Zehnder, A. J. B., and van der Meer, J. R.: Dynamics of denitrification activity of \textitParacoccus denitrificans in continuous culture during aerobic-anaerobic changes, J. Bacteriol., 178(15), 4367–4374, 1996.
Bianchi, M., Fosset, C., and Conan, P.: Nitrification rates in the NW Mediterranean Sea, Aquat. Microb. Ecol., 17(3), 267–278, 1999.
Bodelier, P. L. E., Libochant, J. A., Blom, C. W. P., and Laanbroek, H. J.: Dynamics of nitrification and denitrification in root-oxygenated sediments and adaptation of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria to low-oxygen or anoxic habitats, Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 62, 4100–4107, 1996.
Brettar, I. and Höfle, M. G.: Nitrous oxide producing heterotrophic bacteria from the water column of the central Baltic: abundance and molecular identification, Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser., 94, 253–265, 1993.
Brettar, I., Moore, E. R. B., and Höfle, M. G.: Phylogeny and abundance of novel denitrifying bacteria isolated from the water column of the central Baltic Sea, Microb. Ecol., 42(3), 295–305, 2001.
Brettar, I. and Rheinheimer, G.: Denitrification in the central Baltic: evidence for hydrogen sulfide oxidation as motor of denitrification at the oxic-anoxic interface, Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 77(2–3), 157–169, 1991.
Brettar, I. and Rheinheimer, G.: Influence of carbon availability on denitrification in the Central Baltic Sea, Limnol. Oceanogr., 37(6), 1146–1163, 1992.
Butler, J. H., Elkins, J. W., Thompson, T. M., and Egan, K. B.: Tropospheric and dissolved N<sub>2</sub>O of the West Pacific and East Indian Oceans during the El-Nino Southern Oscillation event of 1987, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 94(D12), 14 865–14 877, 1989.
Carlucci, A. F. and McNally, P. M.: Nitrification by marine bacteria in low concentrations of substrate and oxygen, Limnol. Oceanogr., 14, 736–739, 1969.
Codispoti, L. A., Brandes, J. A., Christensen, J. P., Devol, A. H., Naqvi, S. W. A., Paerl, H. W., and Yoshinari, T.: The oceanic fixed nitrogen and nitrous oxide budgets: Moving targets as we enter the anthropocene?, Sci. Mar., 65, 85–105, 2001.
Codispoti, L. A., Yoshinari, T., and Devol, A. H.: Suboxic respiration in the oceanic water column, in Respiration in aquatic ecosystems, edited by: Del Giorgio, P. A. and Williams, P. J. l. B., pp. 225–247, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2005.
Cohen, Y. and Gordon, L. I.: Nitrous oxide in the oxygen minimum of the eastern tropical North Pacific: Evidence for its consumption during denitrification and possible mechanisms for its production, Deep-Sea Res., 25(6), 509–524, 1978.
Dahlke, S., Wolff, S., Meyer-Reil, L.-A., Bange, H. W., Ramesh, R., Rapsomanikis, S., and Andreae, M. O.: Bodden waters (southern Baltic Sea) as a source of methane and nitrous oxide, in Proceedings in Marine Sciences, Volume 2: Muddy Coast Dynamics and Resource Management, edited by: Flemming, B. W., Delafontaine, M. T., and Liebezeit, G., pp. 137–148, Elsevier Science, Amsterdam, 2000.
Elkins, J. W., Wofsy, S. C., McElroy, M. B., Kolb, C. E., and Kaplan, W. A.: Aquatic sources and sinks for nitrous oxide, Nature, 275(5681), 602–606, 1978.
Enoksson, V.: Nitrification rates in the Baltic Sea: Comparison of three isotope techniques, Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 51(2), 244–250, 1986.
Feistel, R.: IOW Cruise report 11/03/02, March 2003, http://www.io-warnemuende.de/projects/monitoring/documents/cr110302.pdf, 2003.
Feistel, R., Nausch, G., Matthäus, W., and Hagen, E.: Temporal and spatial evolution of the Baltic deep water renewal in spring 2003, Oceanol., 45(2), 623–642, 2003.
Feistel, R. and Nausch, G.: Water exchange between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea and conditions in the deep basins, HELCOM indicator fact sheets / Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission – Helsinki Commission, http://www.helcom.fi/environment/indicators2003/inflow.html, 2003.
Geets, J., Boon, N., and Verstraete, W.: Strategies of aerobic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria for coping with nutrient and oxygen fluctuations, FEMS Microbiol. Ecol., 58, 1–13, doi:10.1111/j.1574-6941.2006.00170.x, 2006.
Goreau, T. J., Kaplan, W. A., Wofsy, S. C., McElroy, M. B., Valois, F. W., and Watson, S. W.: Production of nitrite and nitrous oxide by nitrifying bacteria at reduced concentrations of oxygen, Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 40(3), 526–532, 1980.
Grasshoff, K., Ehrhardt, M., and Kremling, K. (Eds.): Methods of seawater analysis, Verlag Chemie, Weinheim, pp. 419, 1983.
Gundersen, K., Carlucci, A. F., and Boström, K.: Growth of some chemoautotrophic bacteria at different oxygen tensions, Experientia, 22, 229–230, 1966.
Hannig, M., Braker, G., Lavik, G., Kuypers, M., Dippner, J. W., and Jürgens, K.: Structure and activity of denitrifying bacteria in the water column of the Gotland Basin (Baltic Sea), Abstract presented at the SPOT-ON conference 2005, Warnemünde, June 26–July 1, 2005.
HELCOM: Third periodic assessment of the state of the marine environment of the Baltic Sea 1989–1993, Balt. Sea Environ. Proc. no. 64b, p. 75, http://www.baltic.vtt.fi/balticinfo/index.html, 1996.
Jiang, Q. Q. and Bakken, L. R.: Nitrous oxide production and methane oxidation by different ammonia-oxidizing bacteria, Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 65, 2679–2684, 2000.
Jørgensen, B. B and Sørensen, J.: Seasonal cycles of O<sub>2</sub>, NO$_3^-$ and SO$_4^2-$ reduction in estuarine sediments: The significance of a NO$_3^-$ reduction maximum in spring, Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser., 24, 65–74, 1985.
John, P.: Aerobic and anaerobic bacterial respiration monitored by electrodes, J. Gen. Microbiol., 98, 231–238, 1977.
Joye, S. B. and Hollibaugh, J. T.: Influence of sulfide inhibition of nitrification on nitrogen regeneration in sediments, Science, 270, 623–625, 1995.
Knowles, R.: Denitrification, Microbiol. Rev., 46, 43–70, 1982.
Kristiansen, S. and Schaanning, M. T.: Denitrification in the water column of an intermittently anoxic fjord, Hydrobiologia, 469, 77–86, 2002.
Law, C.S., and Owens, N.J.P.: Denitrification and nitrous oxide in the North Sea, Neth. J. Sea Res., 25(1-2), 65-74, 1990.
Meier, M. H. E.: Modelling the age of Baltic seawater masses: Quantification and steady state sensitivity experiments, J. Geophys. Res., 110, C02006, doi:10.1029/2004JC002607, 2005.
Nagel, K.: IOW Cruise report 11/03/01, February 2003 http://www.io-warnemuende.de/projects/monitoring/documents/cr110301.pdf, 2003.
Naqvi, S. W. A. and Noronha, R. J.: Nitrous oxide in the Arabian Sea, Deep-Sea Res., 38, 871–890, 1991.
Naqvi, S. W. A., Jayakumar, D. A., Narvekar, P. V., Naik, H., Sarma, V., D'Souza, W., Joseph, S., and George, M. D.: Increased marine production of N<sub>2</sub>O due to intensifying anoxia on the Indian continental shelf, Nature, 408(6810), 346–349, 2000.
Nausch G.: IOW Cruise Report 40/03/22, January 2003, http://www.io-warnemuende.de/projects/monitoring/documents/cr400322.pdf, 2003a.
Nausch G.: IOW Cruise Report 44/03/03, May 2003, http://www.io-warnemuende.de/projects/monitoring/documents/cr440303.pdf, 2003b.
Nausch, G.: Cruise report 11/03/04, October 2003, http://www.io-warnemuende.de/projects/monitoring/documents/cr110304.pdf, 2003c.
Nausch, G., Feistel, R., Lass, H.-U., Nagel, K., and Siegel, H.: Hydrographisch-chemische Zustandseinschätzung der Ostsee 2003, Meereswissenschaftliche Berichte, 59(1), 1–80, 2004.
Nausch, G., Matthäus, W., and Feistel, R.: Hydrographic and hydrochemical conditions in the Gotland Deep area between 1992 and 2003, Oceanologia, 45(2), 557–569, 2003.
Ostrom, N. E., Russ, M. E., Popp, B., Rust, T. M., and Karl, D. M.: Mechanisms of nitrous oxide production in the subtropical North Pacific based on determinations of the isotopic abundances of nitrous oxide and di-nitrogen, Chemosphere: Global Change Science, 2(3–4), 281–290, 2000.
Popp, B. N., Westley, M. B., Toyoda, S., Miwa, T., Dore, J. E., Yoshida, N., Rust, T. M., Sansone, F. J., Russ, M. E., Ostrom, N. E., and Ostrom, P. H.: Nitrogen and oxygen isotopomeric constraints on the origins and sea-to-air flux of N<sub>2</sub>O in the oligotrophic subtropical North Pacific gyre, Global Biogeochem. Cycles, 16(2), doi:10.1029/2001GB001806, 2002.
Prather, M., Ehhalt, D., Dentener, F., Derwent, R., Dlugokencky, E., Holland, E., Isaksen, I., Katima, J., Kirchhoff, V., Matson, P., Midgley, P., and Wang, M.: Atmospheric chemistry and greenhouse gases, in Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, edited by: Houghton, J. T., Ding, Y., Griggs, D. J., Noguer, M., Van der Linden, P. J., Dai, X., Maskell, K., and Johnson, C. A., pp. 239–287, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 2001.
Richardson, D. J.: Bacterial respiration: A flexible process for a changing environment, Microbiology, 146, 551–571, 2000.
Robertson, L. A. and Kuenen, J. G.: Aerobic denitrification - Old wine in new bottles, Anton Leeuwenhoek J. Microbiol., 50(5–6), 525–544, 1984.
Robertson, L. A., Vanniel, E. W. J., Torremans, R. A. M., and Kuenen, J. G.: Simultaneous nitrification and denitrification in aerobic chemostat cultures of \textitThiosphaera pantotropha, Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 54(11), 2812–2818, 1988.
Rönner, U.: Distribution, production and consumption of nitrous oxide in the Baltic Sea, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 47, 2179–2188, 1983.
Rönner, U., Sörensson, F., and Holmhansen, O.: Nitrogen assimilation by phytoplankton in the Scotia Sea, Polar Biol., 2(3), 137–147, 1983.
Rönner, U. and Sörensson, F.: Denitrification rates in the low-oxygen waters of the stratified Baltic Proper, Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 50, 801–806, 1985.
Schinke, H. and Matthäus, W.: On the causes of major Baltic inflows – an analysis of long time series, Continental Shelf Res., 18, 67–97, 1998.
Schmidt, M.: IOW Cruise Report 11/02/03, October 2002, http://www.io-warnemuende.de/projects/monitoring/documents/cr110203.pdf, 2002.
Seitzinger, S. P. and Kroeze, C.: Global distribution of nitrous oxide production and N inputs in freshwater and coastal marine ecosystems, Global Biogeochem. Cycles, 12(1), 93–113, 1998.
Seitzinger, S. P., Kroeze, C., and Styles, R. V.: Global distribution of N<sub>2</sub>O emissions from aquatic systems: Natural emissions and anthropogenic effects, Chemosphere: Global Science Change, 2, 267–279, 2000.
Sørensen, J.: Nitrate reduction in marine sediment: Pathways and interactions with iron and sulfur cycling, Geomicrobiology J., 5(3–4), 401–422, 1987.
Sørensen, J., Tiedje, J. M., and Firestone, R. B.: Inhibition by sulfide of nitric and nitrous oxide reduction by denitrifying \textitPseudomonas fluorescens, Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 39(1), 105–108, 1980.
Vollack, K. U. and Zumft, W. G.: Nitric oxide signaling and transcriptional control of denitrification genes in \textitPseudomonas stutzeri, J. Bacteriol., 183(8), 2516–2526, 2001.
Wasmund, N.: IOW Cruise Report 44/03/07, July-August 2003, http://www.io-warnemuende.de/projects/monitoring/documents/cr440307.pdf, 2003.
Weiss, R. F.: The solubility of nitrogen, oxygen and argon in water and seawater, Deep-Sea Res., 17, 721–735, 1970.
Weiss, R. F. and Price, B. A.: Nitrous oxide solubility in water and seawater, Mar. Chem., 8, 347–359, 1980.
Wetzel, R. G.: Limnology, Saunders College Publishing, Philadelphia, Pa., 1983.
Whittaker, M., Bergnamm, D., Arciero, D. and Hooper, A. B.: Electron transfer during the oxidation of ammonia by the chemolithotrophic bacterium \textitNitrosomonas europaea, Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 1459, 346–355, 2000.
WMO: Scientific assessment of ozone depletion: 2002, pp. 498, WMO (World Meteorological Organization), Geneva, 2003.
Wrage, N., Velthof, G. L., van Beusichem, M. L., and Oenema, O.: Role of nitrifier denitrification in the production of nitrous oxide, Soil Biol. Biochem., 33(12–13), 1723–1732, 2001.
Yamagishi, H., Yoshida, N., Toyoda, S., Popp, B. N., Westley, M. B., and Watanabe, S.: Contributions of denitrification and mixing on the distribution of nitrous oxide in the North Pacific, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32(2), LO4603, doi:10.1029/2004GLO21458, 2005.
Yoshida, N., Morimoto, H., Hirano, M., Koike, I., Matsuo, S., Wada, E., Saino, T., and Hattori, A.: Nitrification rates and $^15$N abundances of N<sub>2</sub>O and NO$_3^-$ in the western North Pacific, Nature, 342, 895–897, 1989.
Yoshinari, T.: Nitrous oxide in the sea, Mar. Chem., 4, 189–202, 1976.
Yoshinari, T., Altabet, M. A., Naqvi, S. W. A., Codispoti, L., Jayakumar, A., Kuhland, M., and Devol, A.: Nitrogen and oxygen isotopic composition of N<sub>2</sub>O from suboxic waters of the eastern tropical North Pacific and the Arabian Sea – Measurement by continuous-flow isotope-ratio monitoring, Mar. Chem., 56(3–4), 253–264, 1997.
Zart, D., Schmidt, I., and Bock, E.: Significance of gaseous NO for ammonia oxidation by \textitNitrosomonas eutropha, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, 77, 49–55, 2000.
Zehr, J. P. and Ward, B. B.: Nitrogen cycling in the ocean: New perspectives on processes and paradigms, Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 68(3), 1015–1024, 2002.