Carbon sources in the North Sea evaluated by means of carbon isotope tracers, supplement to: Burt, William J; Thomas, H; Hagens, Mathilde; Pätsch, J; Clargo, N M; Salt, L A; Winde, Vera; Böttcher, Michael E (2016): Carbon sources in the North Sea evaluated by means of radium and stable carbon isotope tracers. Limnology and Oceanography, 61(2), 666-683

A multitracer approach is applied to assess the impact of boundary fluxes (e.g., benthic input from sedi- ments or lateral inputs from the coastline) on the acid-base buffering capacity, and overall biogeochemistry, of the North Sea. Analyses of both basin-wide observations in the North Sea and tran...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Böttcher, Michael E, Winde, Vera
Format: Dataset
Language:English
Published: PANGAEA - Data Publisher for Earth & Environmental Science 2016
Subjects:
Event label
DATE/TIME
LATITUDE
LONGITUDE
DEPTH, water
Alkalinity, total
Salinity
δ13C, dissolved inorganic carbon
Water sample
Potentiometric titration
Tetra Con 325 salinity and temperature probe
Isotope ratio monitoring IRM mass spectrometry
Biological Impacts of Ocean Acidification BIOACID
Ocean acidification
Online Access:https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.858134
https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.858134
Description
Summary:A multitracer approach is applied to assess the impact of boundary fluxes (e.g., benthic input from sedi- ments or lateral inputs from the coastline) on the acid-base buffering capacity, and overall biogeochemistry, of the North Sea. Analyses of both basin-wide observations in the North Sea and transects through tidal basins at the North-Frisian coastline, reveal that surface distributions of the d13C signature of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) are predominantly controlled by a balance between biological production and respiration. In particular, variability in metabolic DIC throughout stations in the well-mixed southern North Sea indi- cates the presence of an external carbon source, which is traced to the European continental coastline using naturally occurring radium isotopes (224Ra and 228Ra). 228Ra is also shown to be a highly effective tracer of North Sea total alkalinity (AT) compared to the more conventional use of salinity. Coastal inputs of meta- bolic DIC and AT are calculated on a basin-wide scale, and ratios of these inputs suggest denitrification as a primary metabolic pathway for their formation. The AT input paralleling the metabolic DIC release prevents a significant decline in pH as compared to aerobic (i.e., unbuffered) release of metabolic DIC. Finally, long- term pH trends mimic those of riverine nitrate loading, highlighting the importance of coastal AT production via denitrification in regulating pH in the southern North Sea.

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