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Shelf sea biogeochemistry: Nutrient and carbon cycling in a temperate shelf sea water column

Shelf sea biogeochemistry: Nutrient and carbon cycling in a temperate shelf sea water column
Shelf sea biogeochemistry: Nutrient and carbon cycling in a temperate shelf sea water column
This special issue presents some of the key findings from the pelagic component of the UK Shelf Sea Biogeochemistry Research Programme, carried out on the northwest European shelf between March 2014 and August 2015. The project aimed to address two issues: (1) how does a temperate shelf sea sustain an annual net drawdown and export of atmospheric CO2 without running out of inorganic nutrients, and (2) what uncertainties in processes or parameterisations within current ecosystem models can be reduced by a coordinated, multi-disciplinary observational programme covering the full seasonal cycle? Working with partners across Europe, the net annual drawdown of atmospheric CO2 over the entire northwest European shelf was confirmed. This demonstrated the context and impetus for a 17-month process study in the Celtic Sea, using a long-term mooring array and several research cruises, addressing shelf sea physics, inorganic and organic nutrient and carbon cycling, and bacterial, phytoplankton and zooplankton roles and dynamics. It was clear from the physics that all the carbon absorbed through the sea surface over one year was not exported to the open ocean. Physical transports were too weak and too slow to transport all the carbon-laden water over a wide shelf sea to the shelf edge within one year. The shelf sea must therefore be able to store carbon in a form that prevents release back to the atmosphere for a timescale that is sufficient to allow more episodic (timescales >1 year) exchange events to both remove the excess carbon and top-up the shelf pool of inorganic nutrients. The results presented in this special issue illustrate the likely key role of recalcitrant dissolved organic carbon in storing carbon on the shelf and highlight the need for longer-term measurements or monitoring to understand the nature and timing of potentially large but infrequent exchange events between the shelf and open ocean.
0079-6611
102182
Sharples, Jonathan
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Mayor, Daniel J.
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Poulton, Alex J.
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Rees, Andrew P.
5971ea8f-f7ee-4556-b8b2-8ffc4b52d2c5
Robinson, Carol
aa5b407d-ce1d-4706-a7ce-e2ee4c832071
Sharples, Jonathan
5a1770ff-42d6-45eb-a1d9-7bec1d59c21d
Mayor, Daniel J.
a2a9c29e-ffdc-4858-ad65-3a235824a4c9
Poulton, Alex J.
14bf64a7-d617-4913-b882-e8495543e717
Rees, Andrew P.
5971ea8f-f7ee-4556-b8b2-8ffc4b52d2c5
Robinson, Carol
aa5b407d-ce1d-4706-a7ce-e2ee4c832071

Sharples, Jonathan, Mayor, Daniel J., Poulton, Alex J., Rees, Andrew P. and Robinson, Carol (2019) Shelf sea biogeochemistry: Nutrient and carbon cycling in a temperate shelf sea water column. Progress in Oceanography, 177, 102182. (doi:10.1016/j.pocean.2019.102182).

Record type: Editorial

Abstract

This special issue presents some of the key findings from the pelagic component of the UK Shelf Sea Biogeochemistry Research Programme, carried out on the northwest European shelf between March 2014 and August 2015. The project aimed to address two issues: (1) how does a temperate shelf sea sustain an annual net drawdown and export of atmospheric CO2 without running out of inorganic nutrients, and (2) what uncertainties in processes or parameterisations within current ecosystem models can be reduced by a coordinated, multi-disciplinary observational programme covering the full seasonal cycle? Working with partners across Europe, the net annual drawdown of atmospheric CO2 over the entire northwest European shelf was confirmed. This demonstrated the context and impetus for a 17-month process study in the Celtic Sea, using a long-term mooring array and several research cruises, addressing shelf sea physics, inorganic and organic nutrient and carbon cycling, and bacterial, phytoplankton and zooplankton roles and dynamics. It was clear from the physics that all the carbon absorbed through the sea surface over one year was not exported to the open ocean. Physical transports were too weak and too slow to transport all the carbon-laden water over a wide shelf sea to the shelf edge within one year. The shelf sea must therefore be able to store carbon in a form that prevents release back to the atmosphere for a timescale that is sufficient to allow more episodic (timescales >1 year) exchange events to both remove the excess carbon and top-up the shelf pool of inorganic nutrients. The results presented in this special issue illustrate the likely key role of recalcitrant dissolved organic carbon in storing carbon on the shelf and highlight the need for longer-term measurements or monitoring to understand the nature and timing of potentially large but infrequent exchange events between the shelf and open ocean.

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e-pub ahead of print date: 9 September 2019
Published date: October 2019

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 435967
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/435967
ISSN: 0079-6611
PURE UUID: cfd593a9-7fd7-4097-8b5d-80792fbb6a5d

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Date deposited: 25 Nov 2019 17:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 05:13

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Contributors

Author: Jonathan Sharples
Author: Daniel J. Mayor
Author: Alex J. Poulton
Author: Andrew P. Rees
Author: Carol Robinson

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