Controls over Ocean Mesopelagic Interior Carbon Storage (COMICS): fieldwork, synthesis and modelling efforts
The ocean’s biological carbon pump plays a central role in regulating atmospheric CO2 levels. In particular, the depth at which sinking organic carbon is broken down and respired in the mesopelagic zone is critical, with deeper remineralisation resulting in greater carbon storage. Until recently, ho...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2016-08-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Marine Science |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fmars.2016.00136/full |
| _version_ | 1818534965489434624 |
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| author | Richard John Sanders Stephanie Henson Adrian Martin Tom Anderson Raffaele Bernardello Peter Enderlein Sophie Fielding Sarah L. C Giering Manuela Hartmann Morten Iversen Samar Khatiwala Phyllis Lam Richard Lampitt Daniel Mayor Mark Moore Eugene Murphy Stuart Painter Alex James Poulton Kevin Saw Gabriele Stowasser Geraint Tarling Sinhue Torres-Valdes Mark Trimmer George Wolff Andrew Yool Mike Zubkov |
| author_facet | Richard John Sanders Stephanie Henson Adrian Martin Tom Anderson Raffaele Bernardello Peter Enderlein Sophie Fielding Sarah L. C Giering Manuela Hartmann Morten Iversen Samar Khatiwala Phyllis Lam Richard Lampitt Daniel Mayor Mark Moore Eugene Murphy Stuart Painter Alex James Poulton Kevin Saw Gabriele Stowasser Geraint Tarling Sinhue Torres-Valdes Mark Trimmer George Wolff Andrew Yool Mike Zubkov |
| author_sort | Richard John Sanders |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The ocean’s biological carbon pump plays a central role in regulating atmospheric CO2 levels. In particular, the depth at which sinking organic carbon is broken down and respired in the mesopelagic zone is critical, with deeper remineralisation resulting in greater carbon storage. Until recently, however, a balanced budget of the supply and consumption of organic carbon in the mesopelagic had not been constructed in any region of the ocean, and the processes controlling organic carbon turnover are still poorly understood. Large-scale data syntheses suggest that a wide range of factors can influence remineralisation depth including upper-ocean ecological interactions, and interior dissolved oxygen concentration and temperature. However these analyses do not provide a mechanistic understanding of remineralisation, which increases the challenge of appropriately modelling the mesopelagic carbon dynamics. In light of this, the UK Natural Environment Research Council has funded a programme with this mechanistic understanding as its aim, drawing targeted fieldwork right through to implementation of a new parameterisation for mesopelagic remineralisation within an IPCC class global biogeochemical model. The Controls over Ocean Mesopelagic Interior Carbon Storage (COMICS) programme will deliver new insights into the processes of carbon cycling in the mesopelagic zone and how these influence ocean carbon storage. Here we outline the programme’s rationale, its goals, planned fieldwork and modelling activities, with the aim of stimulating international collaboration. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T18:18:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f20040c4edf84d749e588fbf9505dd4e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-7745 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T18:18:31Z |
| publishDate | 2016-08-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Marine Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-f20040c4edf84d749e588fbf9505dd4e2022-12-22T00:55:21ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Marine Science2296-77452016-08-01310.3389/fmars.2016.00136212795Controls over Ocean Mesopelagic Interior Carbon Storage (COMICS): fieldwork, synthesis and modelling effortsRichard John Sanders0Stephanie Henson1Adrian Martin2Tom Anderson3Raffaele Bernardello4Peter Enderlein5Sophie Fielding6Sarah L. C Giering7Manuela Hartmann8Morten Iversen9Samar Khatiwala10Phyllis Lam11Richard Lampitt12Daniel Mayor13Mark Moore14Eugene Murphy15Stuart Painter16Alex James Poulton17Kevin Saw18Gabriele Stowasser19Geraint Tarling20Sinhue Torres-Valdes21Mark Trimmer22George Wolff23Andrew Yool24Mike Zubkov25National Oceanography CentreNational Oceanography CentreNational Oceanography CentreNational Oceanography CentreNational Oceanography CentreBritish Antarctic SurveyBritish Antarctic SurveyNational Oceanography CentreNational Oceanography CentreMARUM, University of BremenUniversity of OxfordUniversity of SouthamptonNational Oceanography CentreNational Oceanography CentreUniversity of SouthamptonBritish Antarctic SurveyNational Oceanography CentreNational Oceanography CentreNational Oceanography CentreBritish Antarctic SurveyBritish Antarctic SurveyNational Oceanography CentreQueen Mary University LondonUniversity of LiverpoolNational Oceanography CentreNational Oceanography CentreThe ocean’s biological carbon pump plays a central role in regulating atmospheric CO2 levels. In particular, the depth at which sinking organic carbon is broken down and respired in the mesopelagic zone is critical, with deeper remineralisation resulting in greater carbon storage. Until recently, however, a balanced budget of the supply and consumption of organic carbon in the mesopelagic had not been constructed in any region of the ocean, and the processes controlling organic carbon turnover are still poorly understood. Large-scale data syntheses suggest that a wide range of factors can influence remineralisation depth including upper-ocean ecological interactions, and interior dissolved oxygen concentration and temperature. However these analyses do not provide a mechanistic understanding of remineralisation, which increases the challenge of appropriately modelling the mesopelagic carbon dynamics. In light of this, the UK Natural Environment Research Council has funded a programme with this mechanistic understanding as its aim, drawing targeted fieldwork right through to implementation of a new parameterisation for mesopelagic remineralisation within an IPCC class global biogeochemical model. The Controls over Ocean Mesopelagic Interior Carbon Storage (COMICS) programme will deliver new insights into the processes of carbon cycling in the mesopelagic zone and how these influence ocean carbon storage. Here we outline the programme’s rationale, its goals, planned fieldwork and modelling activities, with the aim of stimulating international collaboration.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fmars.2016.00136/fullbiological carbon pumpfield campaignocean carbon cycleBiogeochemical modelScience plan |
| spellingShingle | Richard John Sanders Stephanie Henson Adrian Martin Tom Anderson Raffaele Bernardello Peter Enderlein Sophie Fielding Sarah L. C Giering Manuela Hartmann Morten Iversen Samar Khatiwala Phyllis Lam Richard Lampitt Daniel Mayor Mark Moore Eugene Murphy Stuart Painter Alex James Poulton Kevin Saw Gabriele Stowasser Geraint Tarling Sinhue Torres-Valdes Mark Trimmer George Wolff Andrew Yool Mike Zubkov Controls over Ocean Mesopelagic Interior Carbon Storage (COMICS): fieldwork, synthesis and modelling efforts Frontiers in Marine Science biological carbon pump field campaign ocean carbon cycle Biogeochemical model Science plan |
| title | Controls over Ocean Mesopelagic Interior Carbon Storage (COMICS): fieldwork, synthesis and modelling efforts |
| title_full | Controls over Ocean Mesopelagic Interior Carbon Storage (COMICS): fieldwork, synthesis and modelling efforts |
| title_fullStr | Controls over Ocean Mesopelagic Interior Carbon Storage (COMICS): fieldwork, synthesis and modelling efforts |
| title_full_unstemmed | Controls over Ocean Mesopelagic Interior Carbon Storage (COMICS): fieldwork, synthesis and modelling efforts |
| title_short | Controls over Ocean Mesopelagic Interior Carbon Storage (COMICS): fieldwork, synthesis and modelling efforts |
| title_sort | controls over ocean mesopelagic interior carbon storage comics fieldwork synthesis and modelling efforts |
| topic | biological carbon pump field campaign ocean carbon cycle Biogeochemical model Science plan |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fmars.2016.00136/full |
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