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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">EGUsphere</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>EGUsphere</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub"></issn>
<publisher><publisher-name>Copernicus Publications</publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/egusphere-2026-5019</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Distribution and biogeochemical controls of dissolved cobalamin (vitamin B&lt;sub&gt;12&lt;/sub&gt;) in the western North Pacific</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Kondo</surname>
<given-names>Yoshiko</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1331-8064</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Kawakami</surname>
<given-names>Yukiko</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Takatani</surname>
<given-names>Tomohiro</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6323-5892</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Suzuki</surname>
<given-names>Toshikazu</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Obata</surname>
<given-names>Hajime</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Nishioka</surname>
<given-names>Jun</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>Graduate School of Integrated Science and Technology, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>Graduate School of Fisheries and Environmental Sciences, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff3">
<label>3</label>
<addr-line>Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo, Japan</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff4">
<label>4</label>
<addr-line>Pan-Okhotsk Research Center, Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University, Japan</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>14</day>
<month>09</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2026</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>22</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Yoshiko Kondo et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-5019/">This article is available from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-5019/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-5019/egusphere-2026-5019.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-5019/egusphere-2026-5019.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>Vitamin B&lt;sub&gt;12&lt;/sub&gt; (cobalamin) is an essential micronutrient for many marine microorganisms, yet its distribution and biogeochemical controls in the open ocean, particularly below the euphotic zone, remain poorly constrained. We investigated the vertical and zonal distributions of four dissolved cobalamin species from the surface to the deep western North Pacific. Total dissolved cobalamin (TD-B&lt;sub&gt;12&lt;/sub&gt;) concentrations ranged from below detection to 1.63 pM and were generally low in surface waters. Elevated concentrations occurred below the subsurface chlorophyll maximum (SCM), extended into the upper North Pacific Intermediate Water (NPIW) at northern stations, and were also observed locally in bottom waters. Hydroxocobalamin (OH-B&lt;sub&gt;12&lt;/sub&gt;) was the dominant dissolved form throughout most of the water column. From the surface to the upper NPIW, TD-B&lt;sub&gt;12&lt;/sub&gt; increased with apparent oxygen utilization (AOU), consistent with a contribution of organic matter remineralization to cobalamin accumulation. TD-B&lt;sub&gt;12&lt;/sub&gt; was also positively associated with the relative abundance of Nitrosopumiliaceae inferred from 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, indicating an association between cobalamin accumulation and microbial community composition. In contrast, the relationship between TD-B&lt;sub&gt;12&lt;/sub&gt; and AOU disappeared below the lower NPIW, suggesting that remineralization alone cannot explain cobalamin distributions at greater depths. Elevated cobalamin within the upper NPIW suggests a role for intermediate-water transport, whereas localized bottom-water enrichment may reflect benthic sources and deep-water circulation. Overall, dissolved cobalamin distributions reflect a depth-dependent balance among microbial cycling, degradation, and physical transport.</p>
</abstract>
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<funding-group>
<award-group id="gs1">
<funding-source>Japan Science and Technology Agency</funding-source>
<award-id>JPMJPR23G5</award-id>
</award-group>
<award-group id="gs2">
<funding-source>Japan Science Society</funding-source>
<award-id>Sasakawa Scientific Research Grant 2022-3023</award-id>
</award-group>
<award-group id="gs3">
<funding-source>Japan Society for the Promotion of Science</funding-source>
<award-id>JP21H05056</award-id>
</award-group>
</funding-group>
</article-meta>
</front>
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