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Diurnal carbon cycling in the surface ocean and lower atmosphere of Santa Monica Bay, California
Author(s) -
Leinweber A.,
Gruber N.,
Frenzel H.,
Friederich G. E.,
Chavez F. P.
Publication year - 2009
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 - 10.1029/2008gl037018
Subject(s) - diurnal cycle , bay , environmental science , atmosphere (unit) , atmospheric sciences , carbon cycle , flux (metallurgy) , climatology , oceanography , geology , meteorology , geography , chemistry , ecology , organic chemistry , ecosystem , biology
We investigate the diurnal carbon cycle in the near surface ocean and atmosphere of Santa Monica Bay, California on the basis of hourly measurements of the oceanic and atmospheric partial pressures of CO 2 ( p CO 2 oc and p CO 2 atm ) and related parameters from a moored platform. The power spectrum of the data from three deployments during late spring, summer, and fall reveal a strong peak at 1 cycle/day for both oceanic and atmospheric p CO 2 . While the average diurnal peak‐to‐peak amplitude is about 15 to 20 μ atm for p CO 2 oc and about 10 μ atm for p CO 2 atm , the 10% largest amplitudes exceed 55 μ atm and 42 μ atm, respectively. The diurnal cycle of oceanic p CO 2 is primarily controlled by temperature, but biological processes substantially modify it. The contribution of lateral processes, such as tides, is likely small. For the fall deployment, our data suggest an average net primary production of about 30 mmol C m −2 day −1 . The diurnal cycle of atmospheric p CO 2 is primarily controlled by the air‐sea breeze. Neglect of the diurnal variations in the flux calculations may result in biases of more than 0.2 mol C m −2 a −1 .