The carbonate system in the North Sea: sensitivity and model validation

peer reviewed The ocean plays an important role in regulating the climate, acting as a sink for carbon dioxide, perturbing the carbonate system and resulting in a slow decrease of seawater pH. Understanding the dynamics of the carbonate system in shelf sea regions is necessary to evaluate the impact...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Marine Systems
Main Authors: Artioli, Y., Blackford, J.C., Butenschön, M., Holt, J.T., Wakelin, S.L., Thomas, H., Borges, Alberto, Allen, J.I.
Other Authors: FOCUS - Freshwater and OCeanic science Unit of reSearch - ULiège
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Elsevier Science 2012
Subjects:
Mer du NOrd
Acidification océanique
Life sciences
Aquatic sciences & oceanology
Sciences du vivant
Sciences aquatiques & océanologie
Ocean acidification
Online Access:https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/124580
https://orbi.uliege.be/bitstream/2268/124580/1/artioli_et_al_2012.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmarsys.2012.04.006
Description
Summary:peer reviewed The ocean plays an important role in regulating the climate, acting as a sink for carbon dioxide, perturbing the carbonate system and resulting in a slow decrease of seawater pH. Understanding the dynamics of the carbonate system in shelf sea regions is necessary to evaluate the impact of Ocean Acidification (OA) in these societally important ecosystems. Complex hydrodynamic and ecosystem coupled models provide a method of capturing the significant heterogeneity of these areas. However rigorous validation is essential to properly assess the reliability of such models. The coupled model POLCOMS–ERSEM has been implemented in the North Western European shelf with a new parameterization for alkalinity explicitly accounting for riverine inputs and the influence of biological processes. The model has been validated in a like with like comparison with North Sea data from the CANOBA dataset. The model shows good to reasonable agreement for the principal variables, physical (temperature and salinity), biogeochemical nutrients) and carbonate system (dissolved inorganic carbon and total alkalinity), but simulation of the erived variables, pH and pCO2, are not yet fully satisfactory. This high uncertainty is attributed mostly o riverine forcing and primary production. This study suggests that the model is a useful tool to provide information on Ocean Acidification scenarios, but uncertainty on pH and pCO2 needs to be reduced, particularly when impacts of OA on ecosystem functions are included in the model systems.

Similar Items