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| Titel |
The large variation in organic carbon consumption in spring in the East China Sea |
| VerfasserIn |
C.-C. Chen, G.-C. Gong, F.-K. Shiah, W.-C. Chou, C.-C. Hung |
| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| ISSN |
1726-4170
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| Digitales Dokument |
URL |
| Erschienen |
In: Biogeosciences ; 10, no. 5 ; Nr. 10, no. 5 (2013-05-02), S.2931-2943 |
| Datensatznummer |
250018230
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 copernicus.org/bg-10-2931-2013.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| A tremendous amount of organic carbon respired by plankton communities has
been found in summer in the East China Sea (ECS), and this rate has been
significantly correlated with fluvial discharge from the Changjiang River.
However, respiration data has rarely been collected in other seasons. To
evaluate and reveal the potential controlling mechanism of organic carbon
consumption in spring in the ECS, two cruises covering almost the entire ECS
shelf were conducted in the spring of 2009 and 2010. These results showed
that although the fluvial discharge rates were comparable to the high
riverine flow in summer, the plankton community respiration (CR) varied
widely between the two springs. In 2009, the level of CR was double that of
2010, with mean (± SD) values of 111.7 (±76.3) and 50.7 (±62.9) mg
C m−3 d−1, respectively. The CR was positively correlated with
concentrations of particulate organic carbon and/or chlorophyll a (Chl a)
in 2009 (all p < 0.01). These results suggest that the high CR rate in
2009 can be attributed to high planktonic biomasses. During this period,
phytoplankton growth flourished due to allochthonous nutrients discharged
from the Changjiang River. Furthermore, higher phytoplankton growth led to
the absorption of an enormous amount of fugacity of CO2 (fCO2) in
the surface waters, even with a significant amount of inorganic carbon
regenerated via CR. In 2010, even more riverine runoff nutrients were
measured in the ECS than in 2009. Surprisingly, the growth of phytoplankton
in 2010 was not stimulated by enriched nutrients, and its growth was likely
limited by low water temperature and/or low light intensity. Low temperature
might also suppress planktonic metabolism, which could explain why the CR was
lower in 2010. During this period, lower surface water fCO2 may have
been driven mainly by physical process(es). To conclude, these results
indicate that high organic carbon consumption (i.e. CR) in the spring of 2009
could be attributed to high planktonic biomasses, and the lower CR rate
during the cold spring of 2010 might be likely limited by low temperature in
the ECS. This further suggests that the high inter-annual variability of
organic carbon consumption needs to be kept in mind when budgeting the annual
carbon balance. |
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