A decade of annual Arctic DOC export with Polar Surface Water in the East Greenland Current

The export of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from the Arctic Ocean is expected to change due to warming and increased river runoff. Here we present a method to quantify DOC transport with the East Greenland Current combining synoptic and year‐round data (2009‐2018). An algorithm based on quantitativ...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical Research Letters
Main Authors: Gonçalves‐Araujo, Rafael, Stedmon, Colin A., Steur, Laura, Osburn, Christopher L., Granskog, Mats A.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2020
Subjects:
CDOM absorption slope
Cuttent velocity
Volume transport
Ocean mooring
Polar surface water
Fram strait
Arctic
Arctic Ocean
East Greenland
east greenland current
Fram Strait
Greenland
Online Access:https://orbit.dtu.dk/en/publications/cee1a2a2-417e-44e8-a782-264d18836d0c
https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL089686
https://backend.orbit.dtu.dk/ws/files/221763451/2020GL089686.pdf
https://backend.orbit.dtu.dk/ws/files/222637688/2020GL089686.pdf
Description
Summary:The export of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from the Arctic Ocean is expected to change due to warming and increased river runoff. Here we present a method to quantify DOC transport with the East Greenland Current combining synoptic and year‐round data (2009‐2018). An algorithm based on quantitative and qualitative aspects of colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) was developed to provide DOC estimates. Combined with mooring‐derived monthly Polar Surface Water (PSW) volume transports, we estimate DOC exports for the period from 2003‐2017. For much of the period DOC exports have been reasonably constant at 46.8 (± 6.2) Tg yr ‐1 , while the reduction in PSW export in recent years has resulted in lower annual DOC exports (below 39 Tg C yr ‐1 ). We now have a technique to resolve seasonal and annual fluctuations in Arctic carbon export, offering a significant improvement over earlier bulk estimates and represents a baseline to detect future change.

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