The carbon budget of the North Sea
A carbon budget has been established for the North Sea, a shelf sea on the NW European continental shelf. The carbon exchange fluxes with the North Atlantic Ocean dominate the gross carbon budget. The net carbon budget – more relevant to the issue of the contribution of the coastal ocean to the mari...
Published in: | Biogeosciences |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2005
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/11370/70bcbc9c-e90d-4a5e-a781-9d417febc406 https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/70bcbc9c-e90d-4a5e-a781-9d417febc406 https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2-87-2005 https://pure.rug.nl/ws/files/9856029/2005BiogeosciThomas1.pdf |
Summary: | A carbon budget has been established for the North Sea, a shelf sea on the NW European continental shelf. The carbon exchange fluxes with the North Atlantic Ocean dominate the gross carbon budget. The net carbon budget – more relevant to the issue of the contribution of the coastal ocean to the marine carbon cycle – is dominated by the carbon inputs from rivers, the Baltic Sea and the atmosphere. The North Sea acts as a sink for organic carbon and thus can be characterised as a heterotrophic system. The dominant carbon sink is the final export to the North Atlantic Ocean. More than 90% of the CO2 taken up from the atmosphere is exported to the North Atlantic Ocean making the North Sea a highly efficient continental shelf pump for carbon. |
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