Dynamics of sea-ice biogeochemistry in the coastal Antarctica during transition from summer to winter

The seasonality of carbon dioxide partial pressure (pCO2), air-sea CO2 fluxes and associated environmental parameters were investigated in the Antarctic coastal waters. The in-situ survey was carried out from the austral summer till the onset of winter (January 2012, February 2010 and March 2009) in...

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Main Authors: Suhas Shetye, Babula Jena, Rahul Mohan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2017-05-01
Series:Geoscience Frontiers
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987116300330
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author Suhas Shetye
Babula Jena
Rahul Mohan
author_facet Suhas Shetye
Babula Jena
Rahul Mohan
author_sort Suhas Shetye
collection DOAJ
description The seasonality of carbon dioxide partial pressure (pCO2), air-sea CO2 fluxes and associated environmental parameters were investigated in the Antarctic coastal waters. The in-situ survey was carried out from the austral summer till the onset of winter (January 2012, February 2010 and March 2009) in the Enderby Basin. Rapid decrease in pCO2 was evident under the sea-ice cover in January, when both water column and sea-ice algal activity resulted in the removal of nutrients and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and increase in pH. The major highlight of this study is the shift in the dominant biogeochemical factors from summer to early winter. Nutrient limitation (low Si/N), sea-ice cover, low photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), deep mixed layer and high upwelling velocity contributed towards higher pCO2 during March (early winter). CO2 fluxes suggest that the Enderby Basin acts as a strong CO2 sink during January (−81 mmol m−2 d−1), however it acts as a weak sink of CO2 with −2.4 and −1.7 mmol m−2 d−1 during February and March, respectively. The present work, concludes that sea ice plays a dual role towards climate change, by decreasing sea surface pCO2 in summer and enhancing in early winter. Our observations emphasize the need to address seasonal sea-ice driven CO2 flux dynamics in assessing Antarctic contributions to the global oceanic CO2 budget.
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spelling doaj.art-18533b34355248fb942979dbe7c8b4482023-09-03T09:47:00ZengElsevierGeoscience Frontiers1674-98712017-05-018350751610.1016/j.gsf.2016.05.002Dynamics of sea-ice biogeochemistry in the coastal Antarctica during transition from summer to winterSuhas Shetye0Babula Jena1Rahul Mohan2National Institute of Oceanography, Donapaula, Goa 403004, IndiaNational Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research, Headland Sada, Goa 403 804, IndiaNational Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research, Headland Sada, Goa 403 804, IndiaThe seasonality of carbon dioxide partial pressure (pCO2), air-sea CO2 fluxes and associated environmental parameters were investigated in the Antarctic coastal waters. The in-situ survey was carried out from the austral summer till the onset of winter (January 2012, February 2010 and March 2009) in the Enderby Basin. Rapid decrease in pCO2 was evident under the sea-ice cover in January, when both water column and sea-ice algal activity resulted in the removal of nutrients and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and increase in pH. The major highlight of this study is the shift in the dominant biogeochemical factors from summer to early winter. Nutrient limitation (low Si/N), sea-ice cover, low photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), deep mixed layer and high upwelling velocity contributed towards higher pCO2 during March (early winter). CO2 fluxes suggest that the Enderby Basin acts as a strong CO2 sink during January (−81 mmol m−2 d−1), however it acts as a weak sink of CO2 with −2.4 and −1.7 mmol m−2 d−1 during February and March, respectively. The present work, concludes that sea ice plays a dual role towards climate change, by decreasing sea surface pCO2 in summer and enhancing in early winter. Our observations emphasize the need to address seasonal sea-ice driven CO2 flux dynamics in assessing Antarctic contributions to the global oceanic CO2 budget.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987116300330pCO2 fluxesUpwellingAntarcticaSea-ice
spellingShingle Suhas Shetye
Babula Jena
Rahul Mohan
Dynamics of sea-ice biogeochemistry in the coastal Antarctica during transition from summer to winter
Geoscience Frontiers
pCO2 fluxes
Upwelling
Antarctica
Sea-ice
title Dynamics of sea-ice biogeochemistry in the coastal Antarctica during transition from summer to winter
title_full Dynamics of sea-ice biogeochemistry in the coastal Antarctica during transition from summer to winter
title_fullStr Dynamics of sea-ice biogeochemistry in the coastal Antarctica during transition from summer to winter
title_full_unstemmed Dynamics of sea-ice biogeochemistry in the coastal Antarctica during transition from summer to winter
title_short Dynamics of sea-ice biogeochemistry in the coastal Antarctica during transition from summer to winter
title_sort dynamics of sea ice biogeochemistry in the coastal antarctica during transition from summer to winter
topic pCO2 fluxes
Upwelling
Antarctica
Sea-ice
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987116300330
work_keys_str_mv AT suhasshetye dynamicsofseaicebiogeochemistryinthecoastalantarcticaduringtransitionfromsummertowinter
AT babulajena dynamicsofseaicebiogeochemistryinthecoastalantarcticaduringtransitionfromsummertowinter
AT rahulmohan dynamicsofseaicebiogeochemistryinthecoastalantarcticaduringtransitionfromsummertowinter