The carbon budget of the North Sea

• Main Authors: Thomas, H., Bozec, Yves, de Baar, H. J. W., Elkalay, K., Frankignoulle, M., Schiettecatte, L.-S., Vieira Borges, A.
• Other Authors: Department of Marine Chemistry and Geology, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), Unité d'Océanographie Chimique, Interfacultary Center for Marine Research (MARE), Université de Liège-Université de Liège
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2004
• Subjects: [PHYS.ASTR.CO]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO]; [SDU.ASTR]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]; [SDU.ENVI]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces; environment; [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean; Atmosphere; [SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00297752; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00297752/document; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00297752/file/bgd-1-367-2004.pdf

International audience A carbon budget has been established for the North Sea, a shelf sea of the NW European continental shelf. The air-sea exchange of CO 2 has been assessed as closing term of the budget. 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 dominant carbon sink is the final export to the North Atlantic Ocean. The North Sea acts as a sink for organic carbon. More than 90% of the CO 2 taken up from the atmosphere is exported to the North Atlantic Ocean making the North Sea a highly efficient continental shelf pump for carbon.