ABSTRACT

The concentrations of Ca in the surface and deep waters of the North Pacific and the Bering Sea have been determined with a highly precise method. The deep water contains Ca relative to chlorinity by 0.8% more than the warm surface water of the western North Pacific, whereas it contains Ca by only 0.4% more than does the cold surface water of the northern North Pacific. Based on the results the amount of Ca dissolved in the deep water column of 4km long is calculated to be 9gCa/m²/yr. In the surface water of the productive Bering Sea, alkalinity is found to be controlled chiefly by the formation and decomposition of organic matter rather than the formation and dissolution of CaCO₃. Furthermore a plot of Ca versus potential alkalinity defined by BREWER et al. (1976) gives virtually a slope of 0.5 for upper waters above 1.5 km depth. It, however, is difficult to demonstrate the relation between Ca and alkalinity for the deep water collected from the northern North Pacific alone.