Organic complexation of cobalt across the Antarctic Polar Front in the Southern Ocean

There is compelling evidence to demonstrate that phytoplankton in major regions of the world's oceans are limited by the availability of certain trace elements, notably iron. Cobalt concentrations in open-ocean waters generally range between 10 and 120 pmol L^-1 but such levels were not thought to limit phytoplankton growth. Herein, we present data for total dissolved cobalt and cobalt-complexing ligands for two stations located south (station 200) and north (station 204) of the Antarctic Polar Front (APF) along 20°E in the South Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. Results indicate that there was little difference between total cobalt concentrations south and north of the APF, whereas ligand concentrations were significantly higher (15-20 pmol L ^-1) for the upper water column south of the APF. Productivity in these waters was low at the time of this study; however, numbers of large eukaryotic algal species were higher south of the APF, while north of the APF small eukaryotic and prokaryotic species dominated. The higher ligand concentrations measured at the southern station are probably related to higher algal numbers at this site. Because ligand concentrations were higher, inorganic cobalt concentrations (Co′) south of the APF are extremely low, at femtomolar levels, whereas north of the APF calculated Co′ are much higher at picomolar levels where ligand concentrations were lower.