Kilauea lava fuels phytoplankton bloom in the North Pacific Ocean.

From June to August 2018, the eruption of Kilauea volcano on the island of Hawai'i injected millions of cubic meters of molten lava into the nutrient-poor waters of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. The lava-impacted seawater was characterized by high concentrations of metals and nutrients that stimulated phytoplankton growth, resulting in an extensive plume of chlorophyll a that was detectable by satellite. Chemical and molecular evidence revealed that this biological response hinged on unexpectedly high concentrations of nitrate, despite the negligible quantities of nitrogen in basaltic lava. We hypothesize that the high nitrate was caused by buoyant plumes of nutrient-rich deep waters created by the substantial input of lava into the ocean. This large-scale ocean fertilization was therefore a unique perturbation event that revealed how marine ecosystems respond to exogenous inputs of nutrients.

Temporal and spatial variation of N2O production from estuarine and marine shallow systems of Cadiz Bay (SW, Spain).

There is still much uncertainty regarding the global oceanic emissions of N2O, and particularly emissions from coastal regions, because spatio-temporal datasets have limited coverage. The concentration of dissolved N2O in surface waters and the associated fluxes to the atmosphere have been studied in three coastal systems located near Cadiz Bay (southwestern coast of Spain) over different time scales. The three systems present different hydrodynamic characteristics (an estuary and two marine systems) that influence the distribution of N2O in the water column. Nutrients, oxygen, and particulate organic nitrogen were also measured to investigate the processes responsible for N2O production in the water column. Data on dissolved N2O has been obtained in each system from i) two-year monitoring at fixed station; ii) four seasonal samplings along the longitudinal length of the system; and iii) daily sampling in summer. The concentration of N2O ranges between 1.1 and 292.0nM indicating very high spatio-temporal variability. In general, the concentration of N2O increased during the rainy season associated with the precipitation regime that, in turn, increases the lateral inputs of organic matter and nutrients from both natural sources (discharges into rivers and adjacent marshes) and anthropogenic activities (agriculture, urban effluents and fish farming). Dissolved N2O also varied with the tides: the highest concentrations were measured during the ebb, which suggests that the systems export N2O to the Bay and adjacent Atlantic Ocean. In addition nitrification seems to be an important process for N2O formation in the water column, which also explains some of the variability in the dataset. The mean atmospheric flux of N2O reveals that entire study area was a net source of N2O to the atmosphere. The fluxes ranged between 0.5 and 313.2µmolm-2day-1 in the estuarine system, and between -7.2 and 97.8µmolm-2day-1 in the two marine systems.