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A New Approach to Estimating Coccolithophore Calcification Rates From Space
Author(s) -
Hopkins Jason,
Balch William M.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: biogeosciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-8961
pISSN - 2169-8953
DOI - 10.1002/2017jg004235
Subject(s) - coccolithophore , ocean gyre , sediment trap , environmental science , alkalinity , biological pump , total inorganic carbon , photic zone , biogeochemical cycle , oceanography , carbon cycle , atmospheric sciences , mineralogy , soil science , geology , chemistry , environmental chemistry , phytoplankton , ecology , water column , subtropics , nutrient , carbon dioxide , biology , organic chemistry , ecosystem
The production and ultimate fate of calcium carbonate in the global ocean has implications for the efficiency of the biological carbon and alkalinity pumps. Historically, sediment trap flux data and/or mass balance equations have been used to estimate the rate of particulate inorganic carbon production in the ocean. More recently, satellite data have been used to provide a more comprehensive global overview of this important biogeochemical process based on relationships determined from multilinear regression of measured calcification rates against a number of measurable variables. Here we describe a simple model to estimate calcification rate based around elements of coccolithophore physiology that can be easily parametrized with satellite ocean color data. The model output conforms to our understanding of the spatial and temporal distribution of coccolithophores and performs relatively well at reproducing global rates that are of the correct order of magnitude, while capturing the variability in such a complex, natural process when compared to field calcification rate measurements (slope = 0.98; R 2 = 0.28; p < 0.05; RMSE = 0.53 mg C · m −3 · day −1 ). Average, global, euphotic zone depth‐integrated calcification rate is estimated to be 1.42 ± 1.69 Pg particulate inorganic carbon/year with the oceanic gyres contributing the greatest influence.