The role of continental shelves in nitrogen and carbon cycling: Northwestern North Atlantic case study
Continental shelves play a key role in the cycling of nitrogen and carbon. Here the physical transport and biogeochemical transformation processes affecting the fluxes into and out of continental shelf systems are reviewed, and their role in the global cycling of both elements is discussed. Uncertai...
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2010
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:caf59abf20f94429b7287a93b8cd528d 2023-05-15T17:29:28+02:00 The role of continental shelves in nitrogen and carbon cycling: Northwestern North Atlantic case study K. Fennel 2010-06-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/os-6-539-2010 https://doaj.org/article/caf59abf20f94429b7287a93b8cd528d EN eng Copernicus Publications http://www.ocean-sci.net/6/539/2010/os-6-539-2010.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1812-0784 https://doaj.org/toc/1812-0792 doi:10.5194/os-6-539-2010 1812-0784 1812-0792 https://doaj.org/article/caf59abf20f94429b7287a93b8cd528d Ocean Science, Vol 6, Iss 2, Pp 539-548 (2010) Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 article 2010 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/os-6-539-2010 2022-12-30T22:27:51Z Continental shelves play a key role in the cycling of nitrogen and carbon. Here the physical transport and biogeochemical transformation processes affecting the fluxes into and out of continental shelf systems are reviewed, and their role in the global cycling of both elements is discussed. Uncertainties in the magnitude of organic and inorganic matter exchange between shelves and the open ocean is a major source of uncertainty in observation-based estimates of nitrogen and carbon fluxes. The shelf-open ocean exchange is hard to quantify based on observations alone, but can be inferred from biogeochemical models. Model-based nitrogen and carbon budgets are presented for the Northwestern North Atlantic continental shelf. Results indicate that shelves are an important sink for fixed nitrogen and a source of alkalinity, but are not much more efficient in exporting organic carbon to the deep ocean than the adjacent open ocean for the shelf region considered. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Ocean Science 6 2 539 548 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 |
spellingShingle |
Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 K. Fennel The role of continental shelves in nitrogen and carbon cycling: Northwestern North Atlantic case study |
topic_facet |
Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 |
description |
Continental shelves play a key role in the cycling of nitrogen and carbon. Here the physical transport and biogeochemical transformation processes affecting the fluxes into and out of continental shelf systems are reviewed, and their role in the global cycling of both elements is discussed. Uncertainties in the magnitude of organic and inorganic matter exchange between shelves and the open ocean is a major source of uncertainty in observation-based estimates of nitrogen and carbon fluxes. The shelf-open ocean exchange is hard to quantify based on observations alone, but can be inferred from biogeochemical models. Model-based nitrogen and carbon budgets are presented for the Northwestern North Atlantic continental shelf. Results indicate that shelves are an important sink for fixed nitrogen and a source of alkalinity, but are not much more efficient in exporting organic carbon to the deep ocean than the adjacent open ocean for the shelf region considered. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
K. Fennel |
author_facet |
K. Fennel |
author_sort |
K. Fennel |
title |
The role of continental shelves in nitrogen and carbon cycling: Northwestern North Atlantic case study |
title_short |
The role of continental shelves in nitrogen and carbon cycling: Northwestern North Atlantic case study |
title_full |
The role of continental shelves in nitrogen and carbon cycling: Northwestern North Atlantic case study |
title_fullStr |
The role of continental shelves in nitrogen and carbon cycling: Northwestern North Atlantic case study |
title_full_unstemmed |
The role of continental shelves in nitrogen and carbon cycling: Northwestern North Atlantic case study |
title_sort |
role of continental shelves in nitrogen and carbon cycling: northwestern north atlantic case study |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2010 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-6-539-2010 https://doaj.org/article/caf59abf20f94429b7287a93b8cd528d |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_source |
Ocean Science, Vol 6, Iss 2, Pp 539-548 (2010) |
op_relation |
http://www.ocean-sci.net/6/539/2010/os-6-539-2010.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1812-0784 https://doaj.org/toc/1812-0792 doi:10.5194/os-6-539-2010 1812-0784 1812-0792 https://doaj.org/article/caf59abf20f94429b7287a93b8cd528d |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-6-539-2010 |
container_title |
Ocean Science |
container_volume |
6 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
539 |
op_container_end_page |
548 |
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1766123605405466624 |