The Northeast Atlantic is running out of excess carbonate in the horizon of cold-water corals communities

Abstract The oceanic uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emitted by human activities alters the seawater carbonate system. Here, the chemical status of the Northeast Atlantic is examined by means of a high-quality database of carbon variables based on the GO-SHIP A25 section (1997–2018). Th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific Reports
Main Authors: Fontela, Marcos, Pérez, Fiz F., Carracedo, Lidia I., Padín, Xosé A., Velo, Antón, García-Ibañez, Maribel I., Lherminier, Pascale
Other Authors: Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología, Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, European Union
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Springer Science and Business Media LLC 2020
Subjects:
Multidisciplinary
Northeast Atlantic
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-71793-2
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-71793-2.pdf
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-71793-2
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Summary:Abstract The oceanic uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emitted by human activities alters the seawater carbonate system. Here, the chemical status of the Northeast Atlantic is examined by means of a high-quality database of carbon variables based on the GO-SHIP A25 section (1997–2018). The increase of atmospheric CO 2 leads to an increase in ocean anthropogenic carbon (C ant ) and a decrease in carbonate that is unequivocal in the upper and mid-layers (0–2,500 m depth). In the mid-layer, the carbonate content in the Northeast Atlantic is maintained by the interplay between the northward spreading of recently conveyed Mediterranean Water with excess of carbonate and the arrival of subpolar-origin waters close to carbonate undersaturation. In this study we show a progression to undersaturation with respect to aragonite that could compromise the conservation of the habitats and ecosystem services developed by benthic marine calcifiers inhabiting that depth-range, such as the cold-water corals (CWC) communities. For each additional ppm in atmospheric pCO 2 the waters surrounding CWC communities lose carbonate at a rate of − 0.17 ± 0.02 μmol kg −1 ppm −1 . The accomplishment of global climate policies to limit global warming below 1.5–2 ℃ will avoid the exhaustion of excess carbonate in the Northeast Atlantic.

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