Article
 

Global assessment of ocean carbon export by combining satellite observations and food-web models

Public Deposited

Downloadable Content

Download PDF
https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/articles/jq085q81h

Descriptions

Attribute NameValues
Creator
Abstract
  • The export of organic carbon from the surface ocean by sinking particles is an important, yet highly uncertain, component of the global carbon cycle. Here we introduce a mechanistic assessment of the global ocean carbon export using satellite observations, including determinations of net primary production and the slope of the particle size spectrum, to drive a food-web model that estimates the production of sinking zooplankton feces and algal aggregates comprising the sinking particle flux at the base of the euphotic zone. The synthesis of observations and models reveals fundamentally different and ecologically consistent regional-scale patterns in export and export efficiency not found in previous global carbon export assessments. The model reproduces regional-scale particle export field observations and predicts a climatological mean global carbon export from the euphotic zone of ~6 Pg C yr⁻¹. Global export estimates show small variation (typically <10%) to factor of 2 changes in model parameter values. The model is also robust to the choices of the satellite data products used and enables interannual changes to be quantified. The present synthesis of observations and models provides a path for quantifying the ocean’s biological pump.
  • Keywords: remote sensing, biological pump, food webs, carbon cycle, carbon export
Resource Type
DOI
Date Available
Date Issued
Citation
  • Siegel, D. A., K. O. Buesseler, S. C. Doney, S. F. Sailley, M. J. Behrenfeld, and P. W. Boyd (2014), Global assessment of ocean carbon export by combining satellite observations and food-web models, Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 28, 181–196. doi:10.1002/2013GB004743
Journal Title
Journal Volume
  • 28
Journal Issue/Number
  • 3
Rights Statement
Funding Statement (additional comments about funding)
  • D.A.S. and K.O.B. acknowledge supportfrom the National Aeronautics andSpace Administration (NNX11AF63G).S.C.D. and S.F.S. acknowledge supportfrom the National Science Foundationthrough the Center for MicrobialOceanography: Research and Education(C-MORE) (NSF EF-0424599).
Publisher
Peer Reviewed
Language
Replaces

Relationships

Parents:

This work has no parents.

Items

Thumbnail Title Date Uploaded Visibility Actions
file details BehrenfeldMichaelBotanyPlantPathologyGlobalAssessmentOcean_SupportingInformation.pdf 10/27/2017 Public
file details BehrenfeldMichaelBotanyPlantPathologyGlobalAssessmentOcean_FiguresS1-S4.pdf 10/27/2017 Public
file details BehrenfeldMichaelBotanyPlantPathologyGlobalAssessmentOcean.pdf 10/27/2017 Public