The sensitivity of estuarine aragonite saturation state and pH to the carbonate chemistry of a freshet-dominated river

Moore-Maley, Benjamin L.; Ianson, Debby; Allen, Susan E.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-3743-2018

Articles | Volume 15, issue 12

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-3743-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-3743-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 15, issue 12

Research article

|

20 Jun 2018

Research article |

| 20 Jun 2018

The sensitivity of estuarine aragonite saturation state and pH to the carbonate chemistry of a freshet-dominated river

Benjamin L. Moore-Maley, Debby Ianson, and Susan E. Allen

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-3743-2018-supplement

Data sets

Discrete profile measurements of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), total alkalinity (TALK), salinity, nutrients and temperature during the CCGS John P. Tully and CCGS Vector time series cruises in the Strait of Georgia of the North American Pacific coast D. Ianson, S. E. Allen, B. L. Moore-Maley, S. Johannessen, and R. W. Macdonald https://doi.org/10.7289/V5K64GCP

NOAA Ocean Carbon and Acidification Data Portal NOAA https://www.nodc.noaa. gov/oceanacidification/stewardship/data_portal.html

Strait of Georgia biogeochemical model (SOG) data with varied river carbonate chemistry from 2001 to 2012 B. Moore-Maley, D. Ianson, and S. Allen http://hdl.handle.net/11272/10606

Fisheries and Oceans Canada Institute of Ocean Sciences Data Archive Fisheries and Oceans Canada http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/science/oceans/data-donnees/search-recherche/profiles-eng.asp

UBC Salish Sea Bitbucket Repository UBC Mesoscale Ocean and Atmospheric Dynamics Lab https://bitbucket.org/account/user/salishsea/projects/SOG

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Short summary

Estuaries are vulnerable to ocean acidification, but present-day estuarine pH and aragonite saturation state variability are larger than in the open ocean. Using a numerical model of a large estuary and data from its primary river, we find that changes in river alkalinity relative to river carbon may determine a small but significant portion of this variability, while the majority is controlled by photosynthesis/respiration. Future watershed changes may shift the river alkalinity–carbon balance.