Winter weather controls net influx of atmospheric CO2 on the northwest European shelf

Type Article
Date 2019-12
Language English
Author(s) Kitidis Vassilis1, Shutler Jamie D.2, Ashton Ian2, Warren Mark1, Brown Ian1, Findlay Helen1, Hartman Sue E.3, Sanders Richard3, Humphreys MatthewORCID4, 23, Kivimae Caroline3, Greenwood NaomiORCID5, Hull Tom5, Pearce David5, McGrath Triona6, Stewart Brian M.7, Walsham Pamela8, McGovern EvinORCID9, Bozec Yann10, Gac Jean-Philippe10, Van Heuven Steven M. A. C.11, Hoppema Mario12, Schuster Ute2, Johannessen Truls13, 14, Omar Abdirahman15, Lauvset Siv K.15, Skjelvan Ingunn15, Olsen Are13, 14, Steinhoff Tobias16, Koertzinger Arne16, Becker Meike13, 14, 16, Lefevre Nathalie17, Diverres Denis18, Gkritzalis Thanos19, Cattrijsse Andre19, Petersen Wilhelm20, Voynova Yoana G.20, Chapron BertrandORCID21, Grouazel AntoineORCID21, Land Peter E.1, Sharples Jonathan22, Nightingale Philip D.1
Affiliation(s) 1 : Plymouth Marine Lab, Plymouth, Devon, England.
2 : Univ Exeter, Coll Life & Environm Sci, Exeter, Devon, England.
3 : Natl Oceanog Ctr, Southampton, Hants, England.
4 : Univ Southampton, Ocean & Earth Sci, Southampton, Hants, England.
5 : Cefas, Lowestoft, Suffolk, England.
6 : Natl Univ Ireland, Galway, Ireland.
7 : Agrifood & Biosci Inst, Belfast, Antrim, North Ireland.
8 : MSS, Aberdeen, Scotland.
9 : Marine Inst, Galway, Ireland.
10 : UMR CNRS UPMC 7144 Equipe Chim Marine, Stn Biol Roscoff, Roscoff, France.
11 : Univ Groningen, Fac Sci & Engn, Groningen, Netherlands.
12 : Alfred Wegener Inst, Helmholtz Ctr Polar & Marine Res, Bremerhaven, Germany.
13 : Univ Bergen, Inst Geophys, Bergen, Norway.
14 : Bjerknes Ctr Climate Res, Bergen, Norway.
15 : Bjerknes Ctr Climate Res, NORCE Norwegian Res Ctr, Bergen, Norway.
16 : GEOMAR Helmholtz Ctr Ocean Res Kiel, Kiel, Germany.
17 : Univ Paris 06, UPMC, Sorbonne Univ, IRD,CNRS,MNHN,LOCEAN, Paris, France.
18 : IRD, Ctr Bretagne, Plouzane, France.
19 : VLIZ Flanders Marine Inst, Oostende, Belgium.
20 : Helmholtz Zentrum Geesthacht, Ctr Mat & Coastal Res, Geesthacht, Germany.
21 : IFREMER, F-29280 Plouzane, France.
22 : Univ Liverpool, Sch Environm Sci, Liverpool, Merseyside, England.
23 : Univ East Anglia, Sch Environm Sci, Norwich, Norfolk, England.
Source Scientific Reports (2045-2322) (Nature Publishing Group), 2019-12 , Vol. 9 , N. 20153 , P. 11p.
DOI 10.1038/s41598-019-56363-5
WOS© Times Cited 18
Abstract Shelf seas play an important role in the global carbon cycle, absorbing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and exporting carbon (C) to the open ocean and sediments. The magnitude of these processes is poorly constrained, because observations are typically interpolated over multiple years. Here, we used 298500 observations of CO2 fugacity (fCO(2)) from a single year (2015), to estimate the net influx of atmospheric CO2 as 26.2 +/- 4.7 Tg C yr(-1) over the open NW European shelf. CO2 influx from the atmosphere was dominated by influx during winter as a consequence of high winds, despite a smaller, thermally-driven, air-sea fCO(2) gradient compared to the larger, biologically-driven summer gradient. In order to understand this climate regulation service, we constructed a carbon-budget supplemented by data from the literature, where the NW European shelf is treated as a box with carbon entering and leaving the box. This budget showed that net C-burial was a small sink of 1.3 +/- 3.1 Tg C yr(-1), while CO2 efflux from estuaries to the atmosphere, removed the majority of river C-inputs. In contrast, the input from the Baltic Sea likely contributes to net export via the continental shelf pump and advection (34.4 +/- 6.0 Tg C yr(-1)).
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Kitidis Vassilis, Shutler Jamie D., Ashton Ian, Warren Mark, Brown Ian, Findlay Helen, Hartman Sue E., Sanders Richard, Humphreys Matthew, Kivimae Caroline, Greenwood Naomi, Hull Tom, Pearce David, McGrath Triona, Stewart Brian M., Walsham Pamela, McGovern Evin, Bozec Yann, Gac Jean-Philippe, Van Heuven Steven M. A. C., Hoppema Mario, Schuster Ute, Johannessen Truls, Omar Abdirahman, Lauvset Siv K., Skjelvan Ingunn, Olsen Are, Steinhoff Tobias, Koertzinger Arne, Becker Meike, Lefevre Nathalie, Diverres Denis, Gkritzalis Thanos, Cattrijsse Andre, Petersen Wilhelm, Voynova Yoana G., Chapron Bertrand, Grouazel Antoine, Land Peter E., Sharples Jonathan, Nightingale Philip D. (2019). Winter weather controls net influx of atmospheric CO2 on the northwest European shelf. Scientific Reports, 9(20153), 11p. Publisher's official version : https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-56363-5 , Open Access version : https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00607/71869/