Air-sea CO 2 fluxes on the Bering Sea shelf

• Published in: Biogeosciences
• Main Authors: M. A. Jeffries, J. T. Mathis, N. R. Bates
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2011
• Subjects: Ecology; QH540-549.5; Life; QH501-531; Geology; QE1-996.5; Bering Sea; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-8-1237-2011; https://doaj.org/article/274360186b894d4a8d4b2c804d42c161

There have been few previous studies of surface seawater CO 2 partial pressure ( p CO 2 ) variability and air-sea CO 2 gas exchange rates for the Bering Sea shelf. In 2008, spring and summertime observations were collected in the Bering Sea shelf as part of the Bering Sea Ecological Study (BEST). Our results indicate that the Bering Sea shelf was close to neutral in terms of CO 2 sink-source status in springtime due to relatively small air-sea CO 2 gradients (i.e., Δ p CO 2 and sea-ice cover. However, by summertime, very low seawater p CO 2 values were observed and much of the Bering Sea shelf became strongly undersaturated with respect to atmospheric CO 2 concentrations. Thus the Bering Sea shelf transitions seasonally from mostly neutral conditions to a strong oceanic sink for atmospheric CO 2 particularly in the " green belt " region of the Bering Sea where there are high rates of phytoplankton primary production (PP)and net community production (NCP). Ocean biological processes dominate the seasonal drawdown of seawater p CO 2 for large areas of the Bering Sea shelf, with the effect partly countered by seasonal warming. In small areas of the Bering Sea shelf south of the Pribilof Islands and in the SE Bering Sea, seasonal warming is the dominant influence on seawater p CO 2 , shifting localized areas of the shelf from minor/neutral CO 2 sink status to neutral/minor CO 2 source status, in contrast to much of the Bering Sea shelf. Overall, we compute that the Bering Sea shelf CO 2 sink in 2008 was 157 ± 35 Tg C yr −1 (Tg = 10 12 g C) and thus a strong sink for CO 2 .