Biological export production controls upper ocean calcium carbonate dissolution and CO2 buffer capacity

Details

• Journal Title:
  Science Advances
• Personal Author:
  Kwon, Eun Young ; Dunne, John P. ; Lee, Kitack
• NOAA Program & Office:
  OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research) ; GFDL (Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory)
• Description:
  Marine biogenic calcium carbonate (CaCO 3 ) cycles play a key role in ecosystems and in regulating the ocean’s ability to absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). However, the drivers and magnitude of CaCO 3 cycling are not well understood, especially for the upper ocean. Here, we provide global-scale evidence that heterotrophic respiration in settling marine aggregates may produce localized undersaturated microenvironments in which CaCO 3 particles rapidly dissolve, producing excess alkalinity in the upper ocean. In the deep ocean, dissolution of CaCO 3 is primarily driven by conventional thermodynamics of CaCO 3 solubility with reduced fluxes of CaCO 3 burial to marine sediments beneath more corrosive North Pacific deep waters. Upper ocean dissolution, shown to be sensitive to ocean export production, can increase the neutralizing capacity for respired CO 2 by up to 6% in low-latitude thermocline waters. Without upper ocean dissolution, the ocean might lose 20% more CO 2 to the atmosphere through the low-latitude upwelling regions.
• Source:
  Science Advances, 10(13)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adl0779
• ISSN:
  2375-2548
• Format:
  pdf
• Publisher:
  American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• License:
  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
• Rights Information:
  CC BY-NC
• Compliance:
  Library
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:f3f0f0d8fa00824e96dd19efe775fac7d9867db89b8133ce57368e589b5d65335fc451d41c821b041c8a2adbbb36804ed9e31a69534c3da074c6c8ae4e1619f0
• Download URL:
  https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/69137/noaa_69137_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.65 MB ]