A Novel Measurement-Based Model for Calculating Diffusive Fluxes Across Substrate-Water Interfaces of Marine Aggregates, Sediments and Biofilms

Abstract

Our understanding of the small-scale processes that drive global biogeochemical cycles and the Earth’s climate is dependent on accurate estimations of interfacial diffusive fluxes to and from biologically-active substrates in aquatic environments. In this study, we present a novel model approach for accurate calculations of diffusive fluxes of dissolved gases, nutrients, and solutes from concentration profiles measured across the substrate-water interfaces using microsensors. The model offers a robust computational scheme for automatized determination of the interface position and enables precise calculations of the interfacial diffusive fluxes simultaneously. In contrast to other methods, the new approach is not restricted to any particular substrate geometry, does not require a priori determination of the interface position for the flux calculation, and, thus, reduces the uncertainties in calculated fluxes arising from partly subjective identification of the interface position. In addition, it is robust when applied to measured profiles containing scattered data points and insensitive to reasonable decreases of the spatial resolution of the data points. The latter feature allows for significantly reducing measurement time which is a crucial factor for in situ experiments.