Warming and ocean acidification may decrease estuarine dissolved organic carbon export to the ocean

Simone, Michelle N.; Schulz, Kai G.; Oakes, Joanne M.; Eyre, Bradley D.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-1823-2021

Articles | Volume 18, issue 5

Biogeosciences, 18, 1823–1838, 2021

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-1823-2021

© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Biogeosciences, 18, 1823–1838, 2021

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-1823-2021

© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 18, issue 5

Research article 16 Mar 2021

Research article | 16 Mar 2021

Warming and ocean acidification may decrease estuarine dissolved organic carbon export to the ocean

Michelle N. Simone et al.

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-1823-2021-supplement

Data sets

Oxygen and carbon fluxes from shallow unvegetated sediments in the Clarence Estuary, NSW, Australia under warming and ocean acidification conditions M. Simone, K. Schulz, J. Oakes, and B. Eyre https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.924460

Short summary

Estuaries are responsible for a large contribution of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) to the global C cycle, but it is unknown how this will change in the future. DOC fluxes from unvegetated sediments were investigated ex situ subject to conditions of warming and ocean acidification. The future climate shifted sediment fluxes from a slight DOC source to a significant sink, with global coastal DOC export decreasing by 80 %. This has global implications for C cycling and long-term C storage.