Carbon dioxide partial pressures in arctic surface waters1

• Published in: Limnology and Oceanography
• Main Authors: Coyne, Patrick I., Kelley, John J.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1974
• Subjects: Arctic; Barrow; Alaska
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.4319/lo.1974.19.6.0928; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.4319%2Flo.1974.19.6.0928; https://aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.4319/lo.1974.19.6.0928

Seasonal changes in the CO 2 partial pressure ( P CO 2 ) regime for an arctic freshwater pond and lake near Barrow, Alaska, were measured by infrared gas analysis by determining the CO 2 concentration of air in equilibrium with the water. These waters were generally supersaturated in CO 2 with respect to air throughout the period of open water and constitute a CO 2 source to the arctic atmosphere. Meltwater standing on the bottomfast ice of the lake in spring and water beneath the newly formed ice in fall also had CO 2 partial pressures greater than ambient air. The seasonal mean CO 2 partial pressure gradient between the water and the ambient air was 397±185 ppm for the pond and 115±83 ppm for the lake. P CO 2 was inversely related to wind speed and water temperature but directly related to sediment temperature. Evasion rate coefficients calculated for the lake, based on in situ rate experiments, indicated an average transfer of 0.34±0.17 mg CO 2 cm −2 atm −1 min −1 to the atmosphere.