BN52A:
A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Biological Carbon Pump: Understanding Its Efficiency and Predicting Its Future III


Session ID#: 37067

Session Description:
The biological carbon pump (BCP) transports organic carbon away from the atmosphere to the deep-ocean and sediments, influencing atmospheric CO2levels. The efficiency of the BCP — ratio between fluxes to the deep ocean and primary productivity in the surface ocean — has been intensely studied for the past four decades. Multiple mechanisms contribute to the flux of organic matter to the ocean interior. Recently it has become increasingly clear that complex ecosystem interactions such as phytoplankton community composition and heterotrophic food webs, rather than primary production alone, influence the ability of the oceans to sequester organic carbon. Yet, the mechanisms controlling both the magnitude of carbon export and its fate in the ocean mesopelagic zone are not well understood and a multidisciplinary approach is needed to improve our understanding of these processes. We encourage submissions of field, experimental and modelling studies focusing on:

  • Innovative techniques and models to quantify BCP efficiency
  • Ecosystem processes (e.g. bloom phenology, plankton physiology, particle properties, controls on particle sinking rate and remineralisation)
  • Reconciliation of the discrepancy between POC sinking out of the surface ocean and carbon demand in the dark ocean.
  • Budget calculations and models that predict future BCP in a changing climate
Primary Chair:  Maria Villa-Alfageme, Universidad de Sevilla, Applied Physics II, Sevilla, Spain
Co-chairs:  Anna Belcher, NERC British Antarctic Survey, OBE, Cambridge, United Kingdom, Raffaele Bernardello, Barcelona Supercomputing Centre, Climate prediction, Barcelona, Spain and Matthieu Bressac, University of Tasmania, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), Hobart, Australia; Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
Moderators:  Maria Villa-Alfageme, Universidad de Sevilla, Applied Physics II, Sevilla, Spain, Raffaele Bernardello, Barcelona Supercomputing Centre, Climate prediction, Barcelona, Spain and Matthieu Bressac, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
Student Paper Review Liaisons:  Maria Villa-Alfageme, Universidad de Sevilla, Applied Physics II, Sevilla, Spain and Raffaele Bernardello, Barcelona Supercomputing Centre, Climate prediction, Barcelona, Spain
Index Terms:

1615 Biogeochemical cycles, processes, and modeling [GLOBAL CHANGE]
4805 Biogeochemical cycles, processes, and modeling [OCEANOGRAPHY: BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL]
4806 Carbon cycling [OCEANOGRAPHY: BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL]
4815 Ecosystems, structure, dynamics, and modeling [OCEANOGRAPHY: BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL]
Cross-Topics:
  • CT - Chemical Tracers, Organic Matter and Trace Elements
  • IS - Ocean Observatories, Instrumentation and Sensing Technologies
  • OM - Ocean Modeling

Abstracts Submitted to this Session:

Model estimates of the physical and biological carbon pumps to the carbon budget of the Labrador Sea (320258)
Amanda Kahn1, Laura Castro de la Guardia1, Mariona Claret2, Xianmin Hu1 and Paul Glen Myers1, (1)University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada, (2)JISAO/University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
Quantifying the Storage Efficiency of the Biological Carbon Pump (311307)
Wolfgang Koeve1, Angela Landolfi2, Paul Kähler2 and Andreas Oschlies1, (1)GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, Germany, (2)GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Marine Biogeochemical Modeling, Kiel, Germany
Geochemical reconstructions of particulate organic C, N and P fluxes to the deep ocean (315862)
Thomas S Weber1, Timothy DeVries2 and Saeed Roshan2, (1)University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, United States, (2)University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States
A Lagrangian, Stochastic Model of The Ocean Biological Carbon Pump (318046)
Anna Rufas Blanco1, Tinna Jokulsdottir2 and Samar Khatiwala1, (1)University of Oxford, Department of Earth Sciences, Oxford, United Kingdom, (2)University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
Can Simulations Guide Observations to Better Capture the Efficiency of Particulate Carbon Export in the Ocean? (311903)
Emmanuel Christian Laurenceau-Cornec1, Mathieu Mongin2, Philip W. Boyd1 and Thomas W. Trull3, (1)University of Tasmania, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, Antarctic Climate Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre, Hobart, Australia, (2)CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Hobart, Australia, (3)Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Marine and Atmospheric Research, Antarctic Climate Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre, Hobart, Australia
Novel approach to simulate time-dependent POC export. Sampling windows of success for the accuracy of 234Th-derived POC fluxes (308549)
Elena Ceballos-Romero1, Feliciano De Soto Borrero2, Frederic A.C. Le Moigne3, Rafael García-Tenorio1 and Maria Villa-Alfageme1, (1)Universidad de Sevilla, Applied Physics II, Sevilla, Spain, (2)Universidad Pablo Olavide, Physical, Chemical and Natural Systems, Spain, (3)GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, Germany
Sinking fast and slow in the ocean: how particle flux profiles can fool us (319442)
Sari Lou Carolin Giering, National Oceanography Center, Southampton, Ocean Biogeochemistry and Ecosystems, Southampton, United Kingdom, Richard Sanders, National Oceanography Center, Soton, Southampton, United Kingdom, Adrian P Martin, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, United Kingdom, Stephanie Henson, National Oceanography Center, Southampton, United Kingdom, Jennifer S Riley, Lloyd’s Register Marine & Offshore, Ship Recycling Section, Southampton, United Kingdom, Christopher M Marsay, Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, Savannah, GA, United States and David Johns, The Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science, The Laboratory, Citadel Hill, Plymouth, Devon, PL1 2PB, UK, Plymouth, United Kingdom

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