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| Titel |
Sustaining nutrient supply and carbon export in a seasonally-stratifying shelf sea through inconsistent production and remineralisation stoichiometry |
| VerfasserIn |
Matthew Humphreys, Mark Moore, Eric Achterberg, Mohammed Chowdhury, Alex Griffiths, Susan Hartman, Joanne Hopkins, Tom Hull, Caroline Kivimäe, Dave Sivyer, Angelina Smilenova, Juliane Wihsgott, Malcolm Woodward |
| 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 |
250142704
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2017-6354.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Continental shelf seas support 15-20% of global primary productivity despite covering only
about 5% of the Earth’s ocean surface area. As a result, they may have a significant role in
oceanic uptake and storage of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, through the
‘continental shelf pump’ mechanism. The northwest European continental shelf, in particular
the Celtic Sea (50°N 8°W), was the target of extensive biogeochemical sampling from March
2014 to September 2015, as part of the UK Shelf Sea Biogeochemistry research programme
(UK-SSB). Here, we use the UK-SSB carbonate chemistry and macronutrient measurements
to investigate the biogeochemical seasonality in the temperate, seasonally-stratifying
Celtic Sea. During the spring-summer, near-surface biological activity removed
dissolved inorganic carbon and nutrients, some of which were then exported into the
deeper layer. We calculated vertical inventories of these variables throughout 1.5
seasonal cycles and attempted to correct these for air-sea CO2 exchange, advection and
denitrification, thus isolating the combined effect of net community production and
remineralisation on the inorganic macronutrient inventories, and revealing fluctuating
deviations from Redfield stoichiometry. Here, we discuss the capacity of these
stoichiometric inconsistencies to sustain the Celtic Sea nutrient supply, and thus examine
whether an effective continental shelf pump for CO2 could operate in this region. |
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