Mass balance estimates of carbon export in different water masses of the Chukchi Sea shelf

• Published in: Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography
• Main Authors: Strong, Aaron L., Lowry, Kate E., Brown, Zachary W., Mills, Matthew M., van Dijken, Gert L., Pickart, Robert S., Cooper, Lee W., Frey, Karen E., Benner, Ron, Fichot, Cédric G., Mathis, Jeremy T., Bates, Nicholas R., Arrigo, Kevin R.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Clark Digital Commons 2016
• Subjects: carbon export; Chukchi; Pelagic-benthic coupling; phytoplankton; sea ice; Climate; Oceanography; Anadyr; Anadyr’; Bering Shelf; Chukchi Sea; Anadyr'; Sea ice; Alaska
• Online Access: https://commons.clarku.edu/faculty_geography/206; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr2.2016.05.003

We construct mass-balance based estimates of carbon (C) export fractions from the water column across the Chukchi Sea shelf. Export is calculated as the difference between phytoplankton drawdown of dissolved inorganic C (DIC) and the accumulation of autochthonous particulate and dissolved organic C in the water column. Organic carbon (Corg) exports of >50% of DIC drawdown are ubiquitous across the shelf, even during, or shortly after, phytoplankton blooms, suggesting widespread and strong pelagic-benthic coupling. Export fractions on the shelf were generally greater in the less-productive Alaska Coastal Water than in the more productive Bering Shelf-Anadyr Water. Additionally, export fractions were greater in 2011 than in 2010, highlighting the significant spatial and inter-annual variability of the fate of Corg in this ecologically and biogeochemically important, and rapidly changing, ecosystem.