The carbonic anhydrase activity of sinking and suspended particles in the North Pacific Ocean

The enzyme carbonic anhydrase (CA) is crucial to many physiological processes involving CO₂, from photosynthesis and respiration, to calcification and CaCO₃ dissolution. We present new measurements of CA activity along a North Pacific transect, on samples from in situ pumps, sediment traps, discreet plankton samples from the ship’s underway seawater line, plankton tows, and surface sediment samples from multicores. CA activity is highest in the surface ocean and decreases with depth, both in suspended and sinking particles. Subpolar gyre surface particles exhibit 10× higher CA activity per liter of seawater compared to subtropical gyre surface particles. Activity persists to 4700 min the subpolar gyre, but only to 1000 min the subtropics. All sinking CA activity normalized to particulate organic carbon (POC) follows a single relationship (CA/POC = 1.9 ± 0.2 × 10−7 mol mol−1). This relationship is consistent with CA/POC values in subpolar plankton tow material, suspended particles, and core top sediments. We hypothesize that most subpolar CA activity is associated with rapidly sinking diatom blooms, consistent with a large mat of diatomaceous material identified on the seafloor. Compared to the basin-wide sinking CA/POC relationship, a lower subtropical CA/POC suggests that the inventory of subtropical biomass is different in composition from exported material. Pteropods also demonstrate substantial CA activity. Scaled to the volume within pteropod shells, first-order CO₂ hydration rate constants are elevated ≥ 1000× above background. This kinetic enhancement is large enough to catalyze carbonate dissolution within microenvironments, providing observational evidence for CA-catalyzed, respiration-driven CaCO₃ dissolution in the shallow North Pacific.