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| Titel |
Biogeochemical Trends and Their Ecosystem Impacts in Atlantic Canada |
| VerfasserIn |
Katja Fennel, Krysten Rutherford, Angela Kuhn, Wenxia Zhang, Katie Brennan, Rui Zhang |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2017
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
en
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 19 (2017) |
| Datensatznummer |
250145616
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2017-9574.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| The representation of coastal oceans in global biogeochemical models is a challenge, yet the
ecosystems in these regions are most vulnerable to the combined stressors of ocean warming,
deoxygenation, acidification, eutrophication and fishing. Coastal regions also have large
air-sea fluxes of CO2, making them an important but poorly quantified component of the
global carbon cycle, and are the most relevant for human activities. Regional model
applications that are nested within large-scale or global models are necessary for detailed
studies of coastal regions. We present results from such a regional biogeochemical model for
the northwestern North Atlantic shelves and adjacent deep ocean of Atlantic Canada. The
model is an implementation of the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) and includes
an NPZD-type nitrogen cycle model with explicit representation of dissolved oxygen and
inorganic carbon. The region is at the confluence of the Gulf Stream and Labrador
Current making it highly dynamic, a challenge for analysis and prediction, and
prone to large changes. Historically a rich fishing ground, coastal ecosystems in
Atlantic Canada have undergone dramatic changes including the collapse of several
economically important fish stocks and the listing of many species as threatened or
endangered. Furthermore it is unclear whether the region is a net source or sink of
atmospheric CO2 with estimates of the size and direction of the net air-sea CO2 flux
remaining controversial. We will discuss simulated patterns of primary production,
inorganic carbon fluxes and oxygen trends in the context of circulation features and
shelf residence times for the present ocean state and present future projections. |
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