Marine Science Faculty Publications
The Universal Ratio of Boron to Chlorinity for the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2010
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2009.12.027
Abstract
We report seawater boron concentration (mg kg−1) and chlorinity (‰) values measured in seawater samples (n = 139) collected at various depths in the North Pacific and North Atlantic oceans and the East/Japan Sea (located in the western temperate North Pacific). Our results indicate that variations in seawater boron concentration are strongly coupled to variations in chlorinity (and salinity), yielding a mean boron to chlorinity ratio of 0.2414 ± 0.0009 mg kg−1 ‰−1 (boron to salinity ratio = 0.1336 ± 0.0005 mg kg−1 ‰−1). This ratio was surprisingly universal throughout the water column in the three marine basins and across widely different ocean surface regimes, but differs from the generally accepted ratio of 0.232 ± 0.005 mg kg−1 ‰−1 determined by Uppström (1974), which was based on only 20 measurements at four sites in the tropical Pacific Ocean. In converting total alkalinity to carbonate alkalinity (and vice versa) for thermodynamic calculations, the difference between these two ratios leads to a difference of 5 μmol kg−1 in estimates for ocean surface waters, where the contribution of borate to total alkalinity is typically greatest. We suggest the use of the new boron to chlorinity ratio for predicting seawater boron concentrations using chlorinity (or salinity) data.
Was this content written or created while at USF?
Yes
Citation / Publisher Attribution
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, v. 74, issue 6, p. 1801-1811
Scholar Commons Citation
Lee, Kitack; Kim, Tae-Wook; Byrne, Robert H.; Millero, Frank J.; Feely, Richard A.; and Liu, Yong-Ming, "The Universal Ratio of Boron to Chlorinity for the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans" (2010). Marine Science Faculty Publications. 1758.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/msc_facpub/1758
