ORCID
0000-0002-6751-6250 (Huang), 0000-0001-8281-3184 (Bochdansky)
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2026
DOI
10.1126/sciadv.aee9026
Publication Title
Science Advances
Volume
12
Issue
38
Pages
eaee9026
Abstract
Marine gels constitute a large yet poorly explored ocean carbon pool. Shadow imaging was tuned to detect particles at two sensitivity levels: high–optical density particles (HODP), resembling the particles captured by most imaging systems, and low–optical density particles (LODP), representing a vastly more abundant and gel-dominated pool. This method enabled us to map and characterize a portion of oceanic gels without filtration and staining. In the subtropical northeast Atlantic, LODP outnumbered HODP of the same size by one or two orders of magnitude. Morphology and particle number spectra differed greatly between the two pools, with LODP showing greater morphological homogeneity and diel pulses in abundance. The inclusion of LODP is critical for the parameterization and quantitative interpretation of biogeochemical models that directly affect global carbon flux estimates. Due to a paucity of in situ observations, these particles are largely absent from even the most advanced ocean models.
Rights
© 2026 The Authors, some rights reserved.
Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License.
Data Availability
Article states: "All data and code needed to evaluate and reproduce the results in the paper are present in the paper and are available through the Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office at Woods Hole, Massachusetts (bco-dmo.org, a repository funded by the US National Science Foundation) under the award no. OCE 2128438. FoSI particle vertical profiles at 1-m-depth bin with CTD data can be found at www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/1003447/___DRAFT___/submission/pg4KgEpAnY5hQ4QN. FoSI particle characteristics data used in the article can be found at www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/1003429/___DRAFT___/submission/nZ2X547jPl7fgDM1. Particle number spectra data can be found at www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/1003458/___DRAFT___/submission/66n6GVLJk52TZ31J."
Original Publication Citation
Huang, H., Couret, M., Hernández-León, S., & Bochdansky, A. B. (2026). Visualizing the barely detectable: Particle characteristics of the elusive aquatic gel phase in the northeastern subtropical Atlantic. Science Advances, 12(38), Article eaee9026. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aee9026
Repository Citation
Huang, Huanqing; Couret, María; Hernández-León, Santiago; and Bochdansky, Alexander B., "Visualizing the barely detectable: Particle characteristics of the elusive aquatic gel phase in the northeastern subtropical Atlantic" (2026). OES Faculty Publications. 586.
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/oeas_fac_pubs/586