• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: calcium car; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.144.2834; http://www.gfdl.noaa.gov/reference/bibliography/2003/chung0301.pdf

[1] Recent independent lines of evidence suggest that the dissolution of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) particles is substantial in the upper ocean above the calcite 100% saturation horizon. This shallow-water dissolution of carbonate particles is in contrast with the current paradigm of the conservative nature of pelagic CaCO3 at shallow water depths. Here we use more than 20,000 sets of carbon measurements in conjunction with CFC and 14 C data from the WOCE/JGOFS/OACES global CO2 survey to estimate in situ dissolution rates of CaCO3 in the Atlantic Ocean. A dissolution rate is estimated from changes in alkalinity as a parcel of water ages along an isopycnal surface. The in situ CaCO3 dissolution increases rapidly at the aragonite 100 % saturation horizon. Estimated dissolution rates north of 40 o N are generally higher than the rates to the south, which is partly attributable to the production of exported CaCO3 being higher in the North Atlantic than in the South Atlantic. As more CaCO3 particles move down the water column, more particles are available for in situ dissolution. The total water column CaCO3 dissolution rate in the Atlantic Ocean is determined on an annual basis by integrating estimated dissolution rates throughout the entire water column and correcting