Suppressed CO2 Outgassing by an Enhanced Biological Pump in the Eastern Tropical Pacific

Hyung Jeek Kim; Tae Wook Kim; Kiseong Hyeong; Sang Wook Yeh; Jong Yeon Park; Chan Min Yoo; Jeomshik Hwang

doi:10.1029/2019JC015287

Suppressed CO₂ Outgassing by an Enhanced Biological Pump in the Eastern Tropical Pacific

Hyung Jeek Kim, Tae Wook Kim, Kiseong Hyeong, Sang Wook Yeh, Jong Yeon Park, Chan Min Yoo, Jeomshik Hwang

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

11 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP) is the largest oceanic source of carbon dioxide (CO₂) to the atmosphere. Sinking particle fluxes at a depth of 4,950 m (50 m above the seafloor) in the ETP were monitored from 2003 to 2013, during which the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) shifted from a positive to negative phase. We show a disproportionate increase in the efficiency of the biological pump in this region relative to the increase in primary production that occurred during La Niña years following the shift of the PDO in 2008. Biogenic carbon export from the surface mixed layer was estimated from the observed particulate organic carbon and inorganic carbon fluxes at a depth of 4,950 m and from empirical equations of the vertical attenuation of carbon flux. Enhanced biological carbon export accounted for 2.3–5.5 mol C m^–2 year^–1 during the La Niña events. Despite a large uncertainty associated with these estimates, we propose that CO₂ outgassing was largely suppressed by an enhanced biological pump during the La Niña events in the negative PDO phase.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	7962-7973
Number of pages	12
Journal	Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans
Volume	124
Issue number	11
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JC015287
Publication status	Published - 2019 Nov 1

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Korean Government's Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (PM61150) and by Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (PE99723). Particle flux and NPP data at Station KOMO are available at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Centers for Environmental Information's web interface (https://data.nodc.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/iso?id=gov.noaa.nodc:0201336).

Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Korean Government's Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (PM61150) and by Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (PE99723). Particle flux and NPP data at Station KOMO are available at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Centers for Environmental Information's web interface ( https://data.nodc.noaa.gov/cgi‐bin/iso?id=gov.noaa.nodc:0201336 ).

Publisher Copyright:
©2019. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.

Keywords

ENSO
Eastern Tropical Pacific
Pacific decadal oscillation
biological pump
sediment trap
sinking particle

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Geochemistry and Petrology
Geophysics
Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous)
Space and Planetary Science
Oceanography

Access to Document

10.1029/2019JC015287

Cite this

@article{492712c2d8e14c2fa5f930e86d582a75,

title = "Suppressed CO2 Outgassing by an Enhanced Biological Pump in the Eastern Tropical Pacific",

abstract = "The Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP) is the largest oceanic source of carbon dioxide (CO2) to the atmosphere. Sinking particle fluxes at a depth of 4,950 m (50 m above the seafloor) in the ETP were monitored from 2003 to 2013, during which the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) shifted from a positive to negative phase. We show a disproportionate increase in the efficiency of the biological pump in this region relative to the increase in primary production that occurred during La Ni{\~n}a years following the shift of the PDO in 2008. Biogenic carbon export from the surface mixed layer was estimated from the observed particulate organic carbon and inorganic carbon fluxes at a depth of 4,950 m and from empirical equations of the vertical attenuation of carbon flux. Enhanced biological carbon export accounted for 2.3–5.5 mol C m–2 year–1 during the La Ni{\~n}a events. Despite a large uncertainty associated with these estimates, we propose that CO2 outgassing was largely suppressed by an enhanced biological pump during the La Ni{\~n}a events in the negative PDO phase.",

keywords = "ENSO, Eastern Tropical Pacific, Pacific decadal oscillation, biological pump, sediment trap, sinking particle",

author = "Kim, {Hyung Jeek} and Kim, {Tae Wook} and Kiseong Hyeong and Yeh, {Sang Wook} and Park, {Jong Yeon} and Yoo, {Chan Min} and Jeomshik Hwang",

note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by the Korean Government's Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (PM61150) and by Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (PE99723). Particle flux and NPP data at Station KOMO are available at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Centers for Environmental Information's web interface (https://data.nodc.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/iso?id=gov.noaa.nodc:0201336). Funding Information: This work was supported by the Korean Government's Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (PM61150) and by Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (PE99723). Particle flux and NPP data at Station KOMO are available at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Centers for Environmental Information's web interface ( https://data.nodc.noaa.gov/cgi‐bin/iso?id=gov.noaa.nodc:0201336 ). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright}2019. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.",

year = "2019",

month = nov,

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doi = "10.1029/2019JC015287",

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AU - Kim, Hyung Jeek

AU - Kim, Tae Wook

AU - Hyeong, Kiseong

AU - Yeh, Sang Wook

AU - Park, Jong Yeon

AU - Yoo, Chan Min

AU - Hwang, Jeomshik

N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by the Korean Government's Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (PM61150) and by Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (PE99723). Particle flux and NPP data at Station KOMO are available at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Centers for Environmental Information's web interface (https://data.nodc.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/iso?id=gov.noaa.nodc:0201336). Funding Information: This work was supported by the Korean Government's Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (PM61150) and by Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (PE99723). Particle flux and NPP data at Station KOMO are available at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Centers for Environmental Information's web interface ( https://data.nodc.noaa.gov/cgi‐bin/iso?id=gov.noaa.nodc:0201336 ). Publisher Copyright: ©2019. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.

PY - 2019/11/1

Y1 - 2019/11/1

N2 - The Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP) is the largest oceanic source of carbon dioxide (CO2) to the atmosphere. Sinking particle fluxes at a depth of 4,950 m (50 m above the seafloor) in the ETP were monitored from 2003 to 2013, during which the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) shifted from a positive to negative phase. We show a disproportionate increase in the efficiency of the biological pump in this region relative to the increase in primary production that occurred during La Niña years following the shift of the PDO in 2008. Biogenic carbon export from the surface mixed layer was estimated from the observed particulate organic carbon and inorganic carbon fluxes at a depth of 4,950 m and from empirical equations of the vertical attenuation of carbon flux. Enhanced biological carbon export accounted for 2.3–5.5 mol C m–2 year–1 during the La Niña events. Despite a large uncertainty associated with these estimates, we propose that CO2 outgassing was largely suppressed by an enhanced biological pump during the La Niña events in the negative PDO phase.

AB - The Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP) is the largest oceanic source of carbon dioxide (CO2) to the atmosphere. Sinking particle fluxes at a depth of 4,950 m (50 m above the seafloor) in the ETP were monitored from 2003 to 2013, during which the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) shifted from a positive to negative phase. We show a disproportionate increase in the efficiency of the biological pump in this region relative to the increase in primary production that occurred during La Niña years following the shift of the PDO in 2008. Biogenic carbon export from the surface mixed layer was estimated from the observed particulate organic carbon and inorganic carbon fluxes at a depth of 4,950 m and from empirical equations of the vertical attenuation of carbon flux. Enhanced biological carbon export accounted for 2.3–5.5 mol C m–2 year–1 during the La Niña events. Despite a large uncertainty associated with these estimates, we propose that CO2 outgassing was largely suppressed by an enhanced biological pump during the La Niña events in the negative PDO phase.

KW - ENSO

KW - Eastern Tropical Pacific

KW - Pacific decadal oscillation

KW - biological pump

KW - sediment trap

KW - sinking particle

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