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| Titel |
EPOCA 2010 mesocosm CO2 enrichment experiment in Arctic waters |
| VerfasserIn |
Ulf Riebesell, Klaus von Bröckel, Jan Büdenbender, Jan Czerny, Matthias Fischer, Detlef Hoffmann, Sebastian A. Krug, Uwe Lentz, Andrea Ludwig, Ronald Muche |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2011
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 13 (2011) |
| Datensatznummer |
250053125
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Due to its naturally low carbonate saturation states the Arctic Ocean is considered
particularly vulnerable to ocean acidification. If CO2 emissions continue to rise at current
rates, half of the Arctic Ocean will be undersaturated with respect to calcium carbonate and,
therefore, corrosive for calcareous organisms within the next three to four decades. While
recent studies have demonstrated sensitivities of some Arctic species to ocean acidification,
no information is presently available on community- and ecosystem-level responses.
As a first attempt to closing this gap, an off-shore mesocosm system (KOSMOS)
developed at IFM-GEOMAR was deployed in the Kongsfjord off Spitsbergen - about
1000 nautical miles south of the North Pole - in June/July 2010 and was used to
conduct a pelagic CO2 enrichment experiment. IFM-GEOMAR, which provided the
logistics for this experiment, received support from the Greenpeace vessel M/S
ESPERANZA, transporting the mesocosms and assisting during deployment and
recovery.
In nine 15 m long mesocosms, each enclosing about 50 m3 of seawater, stepwise addition
of CO2 saturated seawater was applied to achieve CO2 concentrations ranging from ca.
180 to 1400 μatm. Half way through the experiment inorganic nutrients (5, 2.5,
and 0.32 μmol L-1 nitrate, silicate, and phosphate, respectively) were added to
the enclosed, nutrient-poor waters. In the framework of the EU integrated project
EPOCA a team of 35 scientists from 12 institutes monitored the mesocosms over
a period of 35 days. In total 45 parameters were measured daily and over 15000
samples analysed to cover aspects ranging from viral, bacterial, phytoplankton
and zooplankton abundances, compositions, biomasses, and productivities, carbon
and nutrient dynamics and stoichiometry, vertical particle fluxes, to the production
of climate relevant gases and air/sea gas exchange. In bringing together a wide
range of scientific expertise this study provides a comprehensive data set on pelagic
ecosystem and biogeochemical responses to ocean acidification in Arctic waters. |
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