Joe Resing

Joseph A. Resing

  • Research Scientist

My research focuses on the impact of the solid Earth on biogeochemical cycles of elements in the ocean, with emphasis on the impact of iron released submarine volcanoes, ocean margins and dust on primary productivity and the carbon cycle. My research is conducted as a part of the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory’s Earth Ocean Interactions program. I consider novel research and exploration activities to address the role of iron in regulating primary productivity and carbon uptake throughout the Ocean.  Over the next several years I will examine the role of trace metal nutrients in the Southern Ocean where macronutrients are abundant, but inadequate supplies of iron limit productivity.  Of particular interest is an expedition to Southern Ocean to examine an extremely large phytoplankton bloom observed annually since the onset of satellite observations >25 years ago. This bloom lies above and down current of the Pacific Antarctic Ridge suggesting that this bloom is fertilized by iron rising off the ridge crest. This site of natural iron fertilization will greatly inform efforts to conduct carbon-dioxide sequestration through artificial iron fertilization.

Current Research Projects

In late 2022, the Resing lab will participate in the International GEOTRACES Program GP17-OCE expedition that will go south from Tahiti crossing the remote oligotrophic waters of the South Pacific Gyre to the productive High Nutrient Low Chlorophyll waters of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, eastward through and eastward across the polar frontal regions of the Southern Ocean and finally across the shelf/coastal waters of South America. He and his collaborators will look at dissolved iron, manganese and aluminum.

In early 2023, the Resing lab will participate in an expedition aboard Schmidt Ocean Institutes Falkor II on its maiden scientific voyage. This expedition will explore the mid-Atlantic Ridge for “core complexes” which are places on the seafloor were the mantle is exposed. These mantle rocks are very reactive, supporting ecosystems and potential serving as a model of carbon uptake by reactions with this rock type.

In mid 2023, the Resing lab will participate in another expedition aboard the Falkor II to Galapagos spreading center. Here we will explore how elevated surface ocean productivity impacts iron preservation in hydrothermal plumes.

In early 2024, the Resing lab will participate in the International GEOTRACES Program GP17-ANT to the Amundsen Sea polynya.  Here he and his collaborators will look at dissolved iron, manganese and aluminum and how they influence coastal Antarctic productivity and how they transport the micro-nutrient Fe to the High Nutrient Low Chlorophyll waters of the Southern Ocean.

In early 2025, the Resing lab will take part in a cruise to examine the impact of submarine volcanoes along the Pacific Antarctic Ridge and how they contribute to the formation of a massive phytoplankton bloom above and down-current of this ridge crest. It is thought that this hydrothermal source is providing Fe to this High Nutrient Low Chlorophyll region. This bloom has recurred every year for >25 years, essentially since the first satellites that could monitor this were placed into orbit

Selected publications

Sedwick, P.N., B. M. Sohst, C. O’Hara, S. E. Stammerjohn, B. Loose, M. S. Dinniman, N. J. Buck, J. A. Resing, S. F. Ackley. (2022). Seasonal dynamics of dissolved iron on the Antarctic continental shelf: Late-fall observations from the Terra Nova Bay and Ross Ice Shelf polynyas, Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans, DOI: 10.1029/2022JC018999

Tagliabue, A., A.R. Bowie, T. M. Holmes, P. Latour, P. C. van der Merwe, M. East, K. Wuttig, J.A. Resing,  (2022) Constraining the contribution of hydrothermal iron to Southern Ocean export production using deep ocean iron observations. Frontiers in Marine Science, DOI=10.3389/fmars.2022.754517

Michael*, S., J.A. Resing, F. Lacan, N. Buck, C. Pradoux, C. Jeandel, C., Lacan, F. (2021). Constraining the Solomon Sea as a source of Al and Mn to the Equatorial Undercurrent.  Deep Sea Research Part I, 174, 103559, 10.1016/j.dsr.2021.103559.

Wang, H., Resing, J.A., Yan, Q., Buck, N.J., Michael, S.M., Zhou, H., Liu, M., Walker, S.L., Yang, Q., Ji, F. (2021) The characteristics of Fe speciation and Fe-binding ligands in the Mariana back-arc hydrothermal plumes, Geochimcica Cosmochimica Acta 292, 24-36, doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2020.09.016.

German, C.R., J.A. Resing, G. Xu, I.A. Yeo, S.L. Walker, C.W. Devey, J.W. Moffett, G.A. Cutter, O. Hyvernaud, D. Reymond (2020) Hydrothermal Activity and Seismicity at Teahitia Seamount: Reactivation of the Society Islands Hotspot? Front. Mar. Sci., doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2020.00073

Grand, M.M., A. Laes-Huon, S. Fietz, J.A. Resing, H. Obata, G. Luther, E. Achterberg, M. Maldonado, R. Middag (2019) Developing Autonomous Observing Systems for Micronutrient Trace Metals, Frontiers in Marine Science, 6, 35, doi: 10.3389/fmars.2019.00035

Barrett*, P.M., J. A. Resing, M. M. Grand, C. I. Measures,  W. M. Landing. (2018) Trace element composition of suspended particulate matter along three meridional CLIVAR sections in the South Indian Ocean: Impact of scavenging on Al distributions, Chemical Geology; 502, 15-28, DOI:10.1016/j.chemgeo.2018.06.015.

Buck$, N.J., J.A. Resing, E.T. Baker, J.E. Lupton, and B.I. Larson (2018): Chemical fluxes from a recently erupted shallow submarine volcano on the Mariana Arc. Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst;  19(5), 1660-1673  https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GC007470.

Crusius. J.C., A.W. Schroth, R.W. Campbell, J. Cullen, J.A. Resing (2017) Influences of wintertime shelf sediment resuspension, a Yakutat eddy, and dust on iron concentrations in northern Gulf of Alaska surface waters, Global Biogeochemical Cycles 31, 6, 942-960, doi: 10.1002/2016GB005493.

Tagliabue, A. and J.A. Resing (2016) Impact of hydrothermalism on the ocean iron cycle. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, 20150291, http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2015.0291.

Barrett*, P.M., J. A. Resing, N.J. Buck, W. M. Landing, P. L. Morton, R. U. Shelley (2015) Changes in the distribution of Al and Fe in the eastern North Atlantic Ocean 2003-2013: Implications for trends in dust deposition. Marine Chemistry, doi: 10.1016/j.marchem.2015.02.009.

Resing, J.A., P.N. Sedwick, C. R. German, W. J. Jenkins, J. W. Moffett, B. M. Sohst, A. Tagliabue (2015). Basin-scale transport of hydrothermal dissolved metals across the South Pacific Ocean. Nature, 523, 200-203, DOI:10.1038/nature1457.

Resing, J., and P. Barrett (2014): Fingerprinting the sources of iron to the oceans. Nature, 511, doi: 10.1038/nature13513, 164–165.

* Graduate Student; $Technical Support Staff