A nitrogen fixation estimate for the Baltic Sea based on continuous pCO2 measurements on a cargo ship and total nitrogen data

Organic matter production and nitrogen fixation in the central Baltic Sea were studied on the basis of high-resolution CO2 partial pressure data that were obtained from an automated measurement system deployed on a cargo ship. The net organic carbon (OC) production was calculated from a surface water CO2 mass balance and used to estimate the nitrogen uptake by organic matter during the period March to August 2005. It was shown that the net OC production continued despite the exhaustion of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) after the spring bloom in April. The nitrogen demand for this production was calculated on the basis of the C/N ratio of organic matter. It was of the same order of magnitude than the winter DIN concentration that fuelled the spring bloom. Since the atmospheric DIN deposition was negligible and no indications of alternative DIN sources were found, it was assumed that N2 fixation had taken place despite the low temperatures (4–8 °C) in April/May. This “cold fixation” amounted to 74 mmol m−2 whereas a value of 99 mmol m−2 was obtained for the summer N2 fixation during June/July. Due to the contribution of the April/May N2 fixation, a total annual rate (173±35 mmol m−2) was obtained for 2005 which is considerably higher than presently accepted estimates. These findings were confirmed by a nitrogen budget based on long-term data (1993–2006) for total nitrogen and total phosphorus concentrations. Furthermore, these data revealed a 30% increase in N2 fixation during the years 1994–2006.