The European Continental Shelf as a Significant sink for Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide

[en] The concentration of carbon dioxide was measured during 18 cruises in the surface waters of the North Atlantic European Shelf (Galician sea, Gulf of Biscay, Armorican Sea, Celtic Sea, English Channel, North Sea), covering all four seasons (9 months of 12) at interannual scale. This is the very first intensive field study of continental shelves, in terms of source/sink for atmospheric CO2, which allows to integrate fluxes on an annual basis and over a large surface area. Here we show that European continental shelves are a sink of 90 to 170 million tons of carbon per year, that is an additional appreciable fraction to the presently proposed flux for the open North Atlantic Ocean (about 45%). The air-sea fluxes of CO2 we obtained are similar to those recently reported in the East China Sea, allowing us to conclude that the coastal ocean plays a considerable role in the global oceanic carbon cycle.

Disciplines :

Aquatic sciences & oceanology

Author, co-author :

Frankignoulle, Michel

Borges, Alberto ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Océanographie chimique

Language :

English

Title :

The European Continental Shelf as a Significant sink for Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide

Publication date :

2001

Journal title :

Global Biogeochemical Cycles

ISSN :

0886-6236

eISSN :

1944-9224

Publisher :

American Geophysical Union, Washington, United States - District of Columbia

Volume :

Issue :

Pages :

569-576

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Available on ORBi :

since 17 December 2008

Statistics

Number of views

428 (2 by ULiège)

Number of downloads

458 (2 by ULiège)

More statistics

Scopus citations^®

160

Scopus citations^®
without self-citations

129

OpenCitations

145

OpenAlex citations

198

Bibliography

Arar E.J., Collins G.B. (1997) In vitro determination of chlorophyll a and pheophytin a in marine and freshwater phytoplankton by fluorescence. Methods for the Determination of Chemical Substances in Marine and Estuarine Environmental Matrices , U.S. Environ. Prot. Agency, Cincinnati, Ohio; 445:1-22.
Bakker D.C.E., de Barr H.J.W., de Wilde H.P.J. (1996) Dissolved carbon dioxide in Dutch coastal waters. Mar. Chem 55:247-263.
Biscaye P.E., Flagg C.N., Falkowski P.G. (1994) The ShelfEdge Exchange Processes experiment, SEEP-II: An introduction to hypotheses, results and conclusions. Deep Sea Res 41:231-252.
Boehme S.E., Sabine C.L., Reimers C.E. (1998) CO2 fluxes from a coastal transect: A time series approach. Mar. Chem 63:49-67.
Borges A.V., Frankignoulle M. (1999) Daily and seasonal variations of the partial pressure of CO2 in surface seawater along the Belgian and southern Dutch coastal areas. J. Mar. Syst 19:251-266.
Brasse S. Kohlenstoffumsaetze in Der Deutschen Bucht, Suedoestliche Nordsee: Saisonale Transformationsprozesse Und Transporte, Ph. D. thesis, 112 pp., Univ. of Hamburg, Hambourg, Germany; 2000.
Broecker W.S., Peng T.-H. Greenhouse Puzzles, 284 pp., Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Palisades, New York; 1998.
Brunskill G.J., Burns K.A., Alongi D., Zagorskis I., Pfitzner J. (2000) Preliminary carbon mass balance in the Gulf of Papua, Papua New Guinea, Project TROPICS, 1991-1999. International Liège Colloquiumon Ocean Hydrodynamics, Univ. of Liège, Liège, Belgium, May 8-12; .
Chen C.-T.A., Wang S.-L. (1999) Carbon, alkalinity, and nutrient budgets on the East China Sea continental shelf. J. Geophys. Res 104:20675-20686.
Codispoti L.A., Friederich G.E., Hood D.W. (1986) Variability in the inorganic carbon system over the Bering Sea shelf during spring 1980 and spring-summer 1981. Cont. Shelf Res 5:133-160.
Copin-Montégut C. (1988) A new formula for the effect of temperature on the partial pressure of carbon dioxide in seawater. Mar. Chem 25:29-37.
Dellile B., Dellile D., Fiala M., Prevost C., Frankignoulle M. (2000) Seasonal changes of pCO2 over a subantartic Macrocystis kelp bed. Polar Biol 23:706-716.
Dickson A., Coyet C. Handbook of Methods for the Analysis of the Various Parameters of the Carbon Dioxide System in Sea Water, (Eds), Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge, Tenn; 1994.
Frankignoulle M. (1988) Field measurements of air-sea CO2 exchange. Limnol. Oceanogr 33:313-322.
Frankignoulle M. (1994) A complete set of buffer factors for acid/base CO2 system in seawater. J. Mar Syst 5:111-118.
Frankignoulle M., Elskens M., Loijens M., Dauby P. (1993) Seawater pCO2 distribution and air-sea CO2 exchanges on the Atlantic European Shelf. Proceedings of Progress in Belgian Oceanographic Research , Brussels, Royal Academy of Belgium; 159-170.
Frankignoulle M., Pichon M., Gattuso J.P. (1995) Aquatic calcification as a source of carbon dioxide. Carbon Sequestration in the Biosphere , NATO ASI Ser. Vol. 133, edited by M. Beran., Springer-Verlag, New York; 133:265-271.
Frankignoulle M., Bourge I., Canon C., Dauby P. (1996) Distribution of surface seawater partial CO2 pressure in the English Channel and in the Southern Bight of the North Sea. Cont. Shelf Res 16:381-395.
Frankignoulle M., Abril G., Borges A., Bourge I., Canon C., Delille B., Libert E., Théate J.-M. (1998) Carbon dioxide emission from European estuaries. Science 282:434-436.
Frankignoulle M., Borges A., Biondo R. (2001) A new design of equilibrator to monitor carbon dioxide in highly dynamic and turbid environments. Wat. Res 35(5):1344-1347.
Garrels R.M., Mackenzie F.T. Evolution of Sedimentary Rocks, (Eds.), 397 pp., W.W. Norton, New York; 1971.
Gattuso J.-P., Frankignoulle M., Wollast R. (1998) Carbon and carbonate metabolism in coastal aquatic ecosystems. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst 29:405-433.
Goyet C., Millero F.J., O'Sullivan D.W., Eischeid G., McCue S.J., Bellerby R.G.J. (1998) Temporal variations of pCO2 in surface seawater of the Arabian Sea in 1995. Deep Sea Res 45:609-623.
Holligan P.M. (1993) A biogeochemical study of the coccolithophore, Emiliana huxley, in the North Atlantic. Global Biogeochem. Cycles 4:879-900.
Hoppema J.M.J. (1991) The seasonal behaviour of carbon dioxide and oxygen in the coastal North Sea along the Netherlands. Neth. J. Sea Res 28:167-179.
Keeling C.D., Whorf T.P. Trends: A Compendium of Data on Global Change, Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge, Tenn; 1999.
Kempe S. (1995) Coastal Seas: A net source or sink of atmospheric carbon dioxide?. Rep. and Stud , (LOICZ) Texel; 95:1-27.
Kempe S., Pegler K. (1991) Sinks and sources of CO2 in coastal seas: The North Sea. Tellus Ser. B 43:224-235.
Körtzinger A., Duinker J.C., Mintrop L. (1997) Strong CO2 emissions from the Arabian Sea during South-West Monsoon. Geophys. Res. Let 24:1763-1766.
Kumar M.D., Naqvi S.W.A., George M.D., Jayakumar D.A. (1996) A sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide in the northeast Indian Ocean. J. Geophys. Res 101(8):18121-18125.
Lefèvre N., Watson A.J., Cooper D.J., Weiss R.F., Takahashi T., Sutherland S.C. (1999) Assessing the seasonality of the oceanic sink for CO2 in the northern hemisphere. Global Biogeochem. Cycles 13:273-286.
L'Helguen S., Madec C., Le Corre P. (1996) Nitrogen uptake in permanently well-mixed temperate coastal waters. Estuarine Coastal Shelf Sci 42:803-818.
Liss P., Merlivat L. (1986) Air-sea exchange rates: Introduction and synthesis. The Role of Air-Sea Exchanges in Geochemical Cycling , NATO ASI Ser. C185, edited by P. Buat-Ménard, Reidel, Norwell, Mass; 113-118.
Lorenzen C.J., Jeffrey S.W. (1978) Determination of chlorophyll a in seawater. UNESCO Tech. Pap. Mar. Sci 35:1-21.
Mackenzie F.T. (1991) What is the importance of ocean margin processes in Global Change?. Ocean Margin Processes in Global Change , edited by R.F.C. Mantoura, J.M. Martin, and R. Wollast, J. Wiley, N. Y; 433-454.
Mackenzie F.T. Our Changing Planet, (Ed.), 486 pp., Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N. Y; 1998.
Mackenzie F.T., Lerman A., Ver L.M. (1998) Role of the continental margin in the global carbon balance during the past three centuries. Geology 26:423-426.
Mackenzie F.T., Ver L.M., Lerman A. (2000) Coastal-zone biogeochemical dynamics under global warming. Int. Geol. Rev 42:193-206.
Mehrbach C., Culberson C.H., Hawley J.E., Pytowicz P.M. (1973) Measurement of the apparent dissociation constants of carbonic acid in seawater at atmospheric pressure. Limnol. Oceanogr 18:897-907.
Nightingale P.D., Malin G., Law C.S., Watson A.J., Liss P.S., Liddicoat M.I., Boutin J., Upstill-Goddard R.C. (2000) In situ evaluation of air-sea exchange parameterizations using novel conservative and volatile tracer. Global Biogeochem. Cycles 14:373-387.
Perez F.F., Rios A.F., Roson G. (1999) Sea surface carbon dioxide off the Iberian Peninsula (North Eastern Atlantic Ocean). J. Mar. Sys 19:27-46.
Reimer A., Brasse S., Doerffer R., Dürsclen C.-D., Kempe S., Michaelis W., Rick H.-J., Seifert R. (1999) Carbon cycling in the German Bight: An estimate of transformation processes and transport. Dtsch. Hydrogr. Z 51:311-327.
Sabine C.L., Mackenzie F.T. (1991) Oceanic sinks for anthropogenic CO2. Int. J. Energy Env. Econ 1:119-127.
Sarmiento J.L., Sundquist E.T. (1992) Revised budget for the oceanic uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide. Nature 356:589-593.
Sarmiento J.L., Murnane R., Le Quéré C. (1995) Air-sea CO2 transfer and the carbon budget of the North Atlantic. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London , Ser. B; 348:211-219.
Schneider B., Kremling K., Duinker J.C. (1992) CO2 partial pressure in the Northeast Atlantic and adjacent shelf waters: Processes and seasonal variability. J. Mar. Syst 3:453-463.
Simpson J.J. (1984) On the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between ocean and atmosphere in an eastern boundary current. Gas Transfer at Water Surfaces , edited by W. Brutsaert and G.H. Jirka, D. Reidel, Norwell, Mass; 505-514.
Simpson J.J., Zirino A. (1980) Biological control of pH in the Peruvian coastal upwelling area. Deep Sea Res 27:234-248.
Smith S.V., Hollibaugh J.T. (1993) Coastal metabolism and the oceanic organic carbon balance. Rev. Geophys 31:75-89.
Smith S.V., Mackenzie F.T. (1987) The ocean as a net heterotrophic system: Implications from the carbon biogeochemical cycle. Global Biogeochem. Cycles 1:187-198.
Sundquist E.T. (1993) The global carbon dioxide budget. Science 259:934-941.
Takahashi T., Takahashi T.T., Sutherland S.C. (1995) An assessment of the role of the North Atlantic as a CO2 sink. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London , Ser. B; 348:143-152.
Takahashi T., Feely R.A., Weiss R.F., Wanninkhof R.H., Chipman D.W., Sutherland S.C., Takahashi T.T. (1997) Global air-sea flux of CO2: An estimate based on measurements of sea-air pCO2 difference. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A 94:8292-8299.
Tans P.P., Fung I.Y., Takahashi T. (1990) Observational constraints on the global atmospheric CO2 budget. Science 247:1431-1438.
Thomas H., Schneider B. (1999) The seasonal cycle of carbon dioxide in Baltic Sea surface waters. J. Mar. Syst 22:53-67.
Tsunogai S., Watanabe S., Sato T. (1999) Is there a "continental shelf pump" for the absorption of atmospheric CO2?. Tellus Ser. B 51:701-712.
van Green A., Takesue R.K., Goddard J., Takahashi T., Barth J.A., Smith R.L. (2000) Carbon and nutrient dynamics during coastal upwelling off Cape Blanco, Oregon. Deep Sea Res 47:975-1002.
Ver L.M., Mackenzie F.T., Lerman A. (1994) Modeling pre-industrial C-N-P-S biogeochemical cycling in the land-coastal margin system. Chemosphere 29:855-887.
Ver L.M., Mackenzie F.T., Lerman A. (1999) Biogeochemical responses of the carbon cycle to natural and human perturbations: Past, present, and future. Am. J. Sci 299:762-801.
Ver L.M., Mackenzie F.T., Lerman A. (1999) Carbon cycle in the coastal zone: Effects of global perturbations and change in the past three centuries. Chem. Geol 159:283-304.
Walsh J.J. On the Nature of Continental Shelves, (Ed.), 520 pp., Academic Pr., San Diego, Calif; 1988.
Walsh J.J. (1989) How much shelf production reaches the deep sea?. Productivity of the Ocean: Present and Past , edited by W.H. Berger, V.S. Smetacek, and G. Wefer, J. Wiley, New York; 175-191.
Walsh J.J. (1991) Importance of continental margins in the marine biogeochemical cycling of carbon and nitrogen. Nature 350:53-55.
Wang S.-L., Chen C.-T.A., Hong G.-H., Chung C.-S. (2000) Carbon dioxide and related parameters in the East China Sea. Cont. Shelf Res 20:525-544.
Wanninkhof R. (1992) Relationship between wind speed and gas exchange over the ocean. J. Geophys. Res 97:7373-7382.
Wanninkhof R., McGillis W.R. (1999) A cubic relationship between air-sea CO2 exchange and wind speed. Geophys. Res. Let 26:1889-1892.
Wollast R., Mackenzie F.T. (1989) Global biogeochemical cycles and climate. Climate and Geo-Sciences , edited by A Berger, S. Schneider, and J.-C. Duplessy, Kluwer Acad., Norwell, Mass; 453-473.
Wollast R. (1993) Interactions of carbon and nitrogen cycles in the coastal zone. Interactions of C, N, P and S Biogeochemical Cycles and Global Change , edited by R. Wollast, F.T. Mackenzie, and L. Chou, D. Reidel, Norwell, Mass; 195-210.
Wollast R. (1998) Evaluation and comparison of the global carbon cycle in the coastal zone and in the open ocean. The Sea , edited by K.H. Brink, and A.R. Robinson, J. Wiley, New york; 10:213-252.
Wollast R., Chou L. (1998) Distribution and fluxes of calcium carbonate along the continental Margin in the Gulf of Biscay. Aquat. Geochem 4:369-393.