Towards a comprehensive C-budgeting approach of a cocoliothophorid bloom in the northern Bay of Biscay: results from PEACE project.

During coccolithophorid blooms, carbon (C) cycling in the photic zone is driven by the production and the degradation of organic matter (primary production and community respiration), as well as the production and the dissolution of biogenic calcium carbonate (CaCO3). Organic and inorganic metabolisms lead to a transfer of carbon to depth and both impact the flows of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the water column and the CO2 flux across the air-sea interface. Furthermore, due to complex dynamics of coccolithophores, the impact of metabolic C fluxes on CO2 fluxes is variable in time, depending on the stage of the bloom development, and mainly on the ratio of calcification to primary production (CAL:GPP). Understanding and quantifying C cycling of coccolithophorid blooms in natural conditions is a prerequisite to correctly validate biogeochemical models aiming at predicting feedbacks related to ocean acidification, which incorporate knowledge obtained from perturbation laboratory experiments.
We carried out a trans-disciplinary cruise on board the R/V Belgica at the continental margin of the Bay of Biscay, in the midst of a coccolithophorid bloom, during which 14C primary production (GPPp), 14C calcification (CAL) and O2-based pelagic community respiration rates (PCR) were determined in the water column.