"Mass Balance Assessments of Carbon Partitioning: A Contribution to the U.S.JGOFS SMP"

by D. Hansell, N. Bates and R. Murnane (Bermuda Biological Station for Research, Inc.)

The overall goal is to perform empirical analyses of the principal processes that control the partitioning of carbon in the surface layer of the ocean in order to improve model parameterizations of the oceanic carbon cycle. Specific processes to be evaluated include the export of carbon from the surface layer as particulate organic and inorganic carbon, the production and accumulation of organic carbon in the surface layer, and the air-sea exchange of carbon dioxide. The analytical approach taken will be largely one of mass balance of carbon and nitrogen in the upper layer of the ocean. Carbon partitioning at US JGOFS process and time-series sites will be studied in the early phase of the project, while extrapolation of the findings at the JGOFS sites to the ocean basin and global scale will take place in the later phase of the project. In the latter analysis, data from the Global CO2 survey and the NOAA OACES lines will be used to investigate basin wide expressions of carbon partitioning. Throughout the study, the findings from the JGOFS study sites, and those resulting from the global extrapolations, will be used to improve model parameterizations of carbon fluxes and partitioning. This final objective provides a strong link to the modeling studies to be supported in the US JGOFS Synthesis and Modeling Program. The work will lead to significant improvements in the oceanographic community's modeling of the marine carbon cycle.