U.S. JGOFS SMP

U.S. JGOFS Synthesis & Modeling Project
Dennis Hansell Nick Bates Rick Murnane
Mass balance assessments of carbon partitioning: A contribution to the U.S. JGOFS SMP NSF: OCE-9726091 04/98-03/01
PROJECT DESCRIPTION:	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 CO₂survey 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.
DATA:	- no data submitted -
PUBLICATIONS:	- no publications listed -
RELATED PROJECTS:	Bates; Sabine; "Assessment of temporal variability in global inorganic carbon distributions" Wanninhkof; Wallace; Baringer "Meridional transport of carbon dioxide in the North Atlantic Ocean"
INVESTIGATOR INFORMATION:	Dennis Hansell University of Miami RSMAS/MAC 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway Miami, FL 33149 tel: 305-361-4078 fax: 305-361-4689 dhansell@rsmas.miami.edu http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/divs/mac/people/dhansell.html Nicholas R. Bates Bermuda Biological Station for Research, Inc. 17 Biological Station Lane Ferry Reach, St. George's GE01 BERMUDA tel: (441) 297-1880 x303 fax: (441) 297-8143 nick@bbsr.edu http://www.bbsr.edu/Labs/co2lab/nick.html Rick Murnane RPI Science Program Manager Bermuda Biological Station for Research, Inc. 17 Biological Station Lane Ferry Reach, St. George's GE01 BERMUDA tel: (441) 297-1880 x246 fax: (441) 297-8143 rmurnane@bbsr.edu