Record Details
Atmosperic CO₂ uptake by a coastal upwelling system
ScholarsArchive at Oregon State University
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Title | Atmosperic CO₂ uptake by a coastal upwelling system |
| Names |
Hales, Burke
(creator) Takahashi, Taro (creator) Bandstra, Leah M. (creator) |
| Date Issued | 2005-02-02 (iso8601) |
| Note | Copyrighted by American Geophysical Union. |
| Abstract | A biological pump for transferring atmospheric CO₂ to deep ocean regimes has been identified in the upwelling zone of the U.S. Pacific coast off Oregon using high-resolution measurements of Pco₂ and nutrient concentrations that were made in May through August 2001. Surface water over most of the shelf was a strong sink for atmospheric CO₂, while a narrow nearshore strip was an intense source. The dominance of the low-CO₂ waters over the shelf area makes the region a net sink during upwelling season. This is due to (1) upwelled water that carries abundant preformed nutrients, (2) complete photosynthetic uptake of these excess nutrients and a stoichiometric proportion of CO₂, and (3) moderate warming of upwelled waters. If the remaining North Pacific’s eastern boundary area is assumed to have similar conditions, this area should represent a sink of atmospheric CO₂ that is 5% of the annual North Pacific CO₂ uptake, and roughly equivalent to the North Pacific’s uptake in the summer season. By mid-August, Pco₂ in subsurface waters increased 20–60%, corresponding to a 1.0–2.3% TCO₂ increase, due to respiration of settling biogenic debris. This water would be transported off the shelf to depth by winter downwelling flow, providing an important mechanism for sequestering atmospheric CO₂ into the oceans’ interior. |
| Genre | Article |
| Topic | biological pump |
| Identifier | Hales , B., T. Takahashi, and L. Bandstra (2005), Atmospheric CO₂ uptake by a coastal upwelling system, Global Biogeochem. Cycles, 19, GB1009. |
