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Rainwater dissolved organic carbon: Concentrations and global flux
Author(s) -
Willey Joan D.,
Kieber Robert J.,
Eyman Mary S.,
Avery G. Brooks
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
global biogeochemical cycles
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.512
H-Index - 187
eISSN - 1944-9224
pISSN - 0886-6236
DOI - 10.1029/1999gb900036
Subject(s) - dissolved organic carbon , seawater , rainwater harvesting , carbon cycle , environmental science , total organic carbon , sink (geography) , carbon fibers , environmental chemistry , carbon dioxide , surface water , carbon sink , total inorganic carbon , flux (metallurgy) , hydrology (agriculture) , oceanography , chemistry , geology , environmental engineering , ecology , climate change , ecosystem , geography , materials science , cartography , organic chemistry , geotechnical engineering , composite number , composite material , biology
Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is a major component of both marine (23 μM) and continental (161 μM) rain, present in concentrations greater than nitric and sulfuric acids combined. Rain is a significant source of DOC to surface seawater (90 × 10 12 g C yr −1 ), equivalent to the magnitude of river input of DOC to the open ocean and half the magnitude of carbon buried in marine sediments per year on a global scale. Current models of global carbon cycling focus primarily on inorganic forms of carbon and are unable to account for approximately 20% of the global carbon dioxide, suggesting a significant missing carbon sink. Quantification of the average DOC concentration in marine rain allows calculation of the global rainwater flux of DOC of 430 ± 150 × 10 12 g C yr −1 . When inorganic carbon is included, this rainwater carbon flux becomes 510 ± 170 × 10 12 g C yr −1 , which, although not the same carbon, is equivalent in magnitude to over one third of the missing carbon sink.