Biogeosciences www.biogeosciences.net 1726-4170 1726-4189 6 3 2009 10.5194/bg-6-333-2009 http://www.biogeosciences.net/6/333/2009/ http://www.biogeosciences.net/6/333/2009/bg-6-333-2009.html http://www.biogeosciences.net/6/333/2009/bg-6-333-2009.pdf 333 348 2009-03-06 Particle fluxes in the deep Eastern Mediterranean basins: the role of ocean vertical velocities L. Patara patara@bo.ingv.it N. Pinardi C. Corselli E. Malinverno M. Tonani R. Santoleri S. Masina Centro Euro-Mediterraneo per i Cambiamenti Climatici (CMCC), Viale Aldo Moro 44, 40127 Bologna, Italy Laboratorio SINCEM, Università di Bologna, Via S. Alberto 163, 48100 Ravenna, Italy Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche e Geotecnologie, Università Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 4, 20126 Milan, Italy Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Viale Aldo Moro 44, 40127 Bologna, Italy Istituto di Scienze dell'Atmosfera e del Clima – C.N.R., Via del Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133 Rome, Italy This paper analyzes the relationship between deep sedimentary fluxes and ocean current vertical velocities in an offshore area of the Ionian Sea, the deepest basin of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. Sediment trap data are collected at 500 m and 2800 m depth in two successive moorings covering the period September 1999–May 2001. A tight coupling is observed between the upper and deep traps and the estimated particle sinking rates are more than 200 m day^−1. The current vertical velocity field is computed from a 1/16°×1/16° Ocean General Circulation Model simulation and from the wind stress curl. Current vertical velocities are larger and more variable than Ekman vertical velocities, yet the general patterns are alike. Current vertical velocities are generally smaller than 1 m day^−1: we therefore exclude a direct effect of downward velocities in determining high sedimentation rates. However we find that upward velocities in the subsurface layers of the water column are positively correlated with deep particle fluxes. We thus hypothesize that upwelling would produce an increase in upper ocean nutrient levels – thus stimulating primary production and grazing – a few weeks before an enhanced vertical flux is found in the sediment traps. High particle sedimentation rates may be attained by means of rapidly sinking fecal pellets produced by gelatinous macro-zooplankton. Other sedimentation mechanisms, such as dust deposition, are also considered in explaining large pulses of deep particle fluxes. 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