Premium
Penetration of anthropogenic carbon into organic particles of the deep ocean
Author(s) -
Druffel Ellen R. M.,
Bauer James E.,
Griffin Sheila,
Hwang Jeomshik
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2003gl017423
Subject(s) - sargasso sea , oceanography , deep sea , radiocarbon dating , water column , particulates , environmental science , geology , sediment trap , total organic carbon , deep water , organic matter , particulate organic carbon , atmospheric sciences , environmental chemistry , paleontology , chemistry , phytoplankton , nutrient , organic chemistry
In the late 1980s, bomb 14 C was present in suspended particulate organic carbon (POC) from the North Central Pacific (NCP) and Sargasso Sea (SS) throughout most of the water column, demonstrating that deep POC had exchanged with atmospheric CO 2 in the past 30 years. Upon reoccupation of these sites in 1999 and 2000, respectively, we observed that the δ 13 C values of suspended POC were lower than those measured a decade earlier. This demonstrates that anthropogenic CO 2 from fossil fuel and biomass burning has penetrated a major organic matter pool in the deep ocean. Δ 14 C measured in the suspended POC showed similar or higher values in the deep Sargasso Sea and decreased values in the deep NCP compared to those measured previously. We use a box model to show that the differences in the radiocarbon results are likely due to the presence of resuspended sediment that is laterally advected from the continental margin to the deep Sargasso Sea.