Distribution of suspended particulate matter at the equatorial transect in the Atlantic Ocean

Abstract

A suspended particulate matter distribution against a hydrographical background was studied at the oceanographic transect across the equatorial Atlantic in the year 2000. An area of abnormally high suspended matter volume concentrations was found above the Sierra Leone Rise in the entire water column (eastern part of the transect). The suggested explanation for the anomaly is based on the ballast hypothesis whereby solid particles are incorporated as ballast into suspended biogenic aggregates, leading to increased velocities of sinking. This occurs within the Northwest African upwelling area, where the plankton exposed to the Saharan dust abundance form a significant number of aggregates, which are later transported equatorward via the Canary Current. An intermediate nepheloid layer associated with the Deep Western Boundary Current was recorded from the South American Slope at depths of 3200–3700 to 4300 m above the Para Abyssal Plain. Antarctic Bottom Water enriched in suspended matter was found mostly in the troughs at 40–41∘ W. It was detached from the bottom, coinciding with the core of the flow due to the bottom rise “dam” located up-stream. The grain size of particles along the entire transect has a polymodal distribution with 2–4 and 8–13 µm modes. The registered rise in percentage in some parts of the transect of the 7–21 µm sized particles suggests the presence of the well-known coarse mode (20–60 µm) formed by aggregation of transparent exopolymer particles (mucus).