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American Geophysical Union, Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 3(25), p. n/a-n/a, 2011

DOI: 10.1029/2010gb003924

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Quantifying the flux of CaCO3 and organic carbon from the surface ocean using in situ measurements of O2, N2, pCO2, and pH

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

Ocean acidification from anthropogenic CO 2 has focused our attention on the importance of understanding the rates and mechanisms of CaCO 3 formation so that changes can be monitored and feedbacks predicted. We present a method for determining the rate of CaCO 3 production using in situ measureme nts of fCO 2 and pH in surface waters of the eastern subarctic Pacific Ocean. These quantities were determined on a surface mooring every 3 h for a period of about 9 months in 2007 at Ocean Station Papa (50N, 145W). We use the data in a simple surface ocean, mass balance model of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and alkalinity (Alk) to constrain the CaCO 3: organic carbon (OC) production ratio to be approximately 0.5. A CaCO 3 production rate of 8 mmol CaCO 3 m -2 d -1 in the summer of 2007 (1.2 mol m -2 yr -1) is derived by combining the CaCO 3: OC ratio with the a net organic carbon production rate (2.5 mol C m -2 yr -1) determined from in situ measurements of oxygen and nitrogen gas concentrations measured on the same mooring (Emerson and Stump, 2010). Carbonate chemistry data from a meridional hydrographic section in this area in 2008 indicate that isopycnal surfaces that outcrop in the winter in the subarctic Pacific and deepen southward into the subtropics are a much stronger source for alkalinity than vertical mixing. This pathway has a high enough Alk:DIC ratio to support the CaCO 3:OC production rate implied by the fCO 2 and pH data.