Compensation Depth
In biological oceanography, compensation depth is the ocean depth where the daily rate of gross photosynthesis production equals the daily rate of gross respiration losses from the photosynthesizing marine biological community.
Photosynthesis is the process by which some types of plants and organisms (producers) produce carbohydrates and oxygen from water and carbon dioxide using energy from sunlight, referred to as irradiance. These plants and organisms coincidentally require both carbohydrates and oxygen for subsistence, and this need is satisfied through the process of respiration. During respiration, oxygen and carbohydrates are consumed for conversion to energy with by-products of carbon dioxide and water.
Since photosynthesis requires sunlight, which attenuates with water depth, the rate of photosynthesis in the surface waters is variable, decreasing as a function of depth in response to the diminishing light. Respiration is relatively constant and not light or depth-dependent. Therefore, for a given incoming sunlight irradiance, there exists a singular depth where the rate of photosynthesis is balanced with the rate of respiration, which is the compensation depth. Above the compensation depth, there is a gain of production and below the compensation depth, there is a loss of production.
Compensation depth cannot be measured directly and is determined indirectly by locating the intersection of measured vertical profiles of photosynthesis and respiration. The corresponding light intensity at the compensation depth is typically on the order of 1% of the incoming surface irradiation. Compensation depths are variable, though typically within the upper couple hundred meters of the water column. The actual depth is dependent on the incoming solar irradiation, the properties of the surface waters, and the composition and initial mass of the marine biological community.
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References
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- ↑ Lalli, Carol; Parsons, Timothy (1997), Biological Oceanography:an introduction, Elsevier
- ↑ Mann, Kenneth Henry; Lazier, John RN (2013), Dynamics of marine ecosystems: biological-physical interactions in the oceans., John Wiley & Sons
- ↑ Miller, Charles, B.; Wheeler, Patricia (2012), Biological oceanography, John Wiley & Sons
- ↑ Sverdrup, Harold, U. (1953), On conditions for the vernal blooming of phytoplankton, 18.3, Journal du Conseil International pour l’Exploration de la Mer, pp. 287–295
