A researcher from the University of Southern California will determine the water column distribution of soluble, reduced iron [Fe(II)] during the 2013 U.S. GEOTRACES Zonal Transect in the Eastern Tropical Pacific. The study will focus on two important sources of Fe to the Pacific Basin, reducing eastern boundary margins associated with the Peruvian Oxygen Minimum Zone (OMZ) and hydrothermal inputs along the East Pacific Rise were Fe enters the water column as Fe(II), is rapidly oxidized and partitioned onto particles as Fe(III) which constrain the importance of these sources. The data will compliment measurements of total dissolved Fe, particulate Fe and particulate Fe(II), short-lived and particle reactive isotopes, as well as manganese and iodine which have comparative redox chemistries to determine the importance of redox chemistry to the strong horizontal and vertical gradients observed for iron in this section.
Broader Impacts: The project would strengthen international collaborations with scientists in Peru and Chile. One postdoc, one graduate, and one undergraduate student would be supported and trained as part of this project.
