Articles | Volume 18, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-229-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-229-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
14 Jan 2021
Research article |
| 14 Jan 2021
| 14 Jan 2021
Variable particle size distributions reduce the sensitivity of global export flux to climate change
School of Oceanography, University of Washington, Seattle, 98195, USA
Thomas Weber
School of Oceanography, University of Washington, Seattle, 98195, USA
School of Arts and Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, 14627, USA
Jacob A. Cram
School of Oceanography, University of Washington, Seattle, 98195, USA
Horn Point Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Cambridge, 21613, USA
Curtis Deutsch
School of Oceanography, University of Washington, Seattle, 98195, USA
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Methane (CH4) is the second most important human-influenced greenhouse gas in terms of climate forcing after carbon dioxide (CO2). A consortium of multi-disciplinary scientists synthesise and update the budget of the sources and sinks of CH4. This edition benefits from important progress in estimating emissions from lakes and ponds, reservoirs, and streams and rivers. For the 2010s decade, global CH4 emissions are estimated at 575 Tg CH4 yr-1, including ~65 % from anthropogenic sources.
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Future ocean conditions can be simulated using projected trends in fossil fuel use paired with Earth system models. Global models generally do not include local processes important to coastal ecosystems. These coastal processes can alter the degree of change projected. Higher-resolution models that include local processes predict modified changes in carbon stressors when compared to changes projected by global models in the California Current System.
Samuel T. Wilson, Alia N. Al-Haj, Annie Bourbonnais, Claudia Frey, Robinson W. Fulweiler, John D. Kessler, Hannah K. Marchant, Jana Milucka, Nicholas E. Ray, Parvadha Suntharalingam, Brett F. Thornton, Robert C. Upstill-Goddard, Thomas S. Weber, Damian L. Arévalo-Martínez, Hermann W. Bange, Heather M. Benway, Daniele Bianchi, Alberto V. Borges, Bonnie X. Chang, Patrick M. Crill, Daniela A. del Valle, Laura Farías, Samantha B. Joye, Annette Kock, Jabrane Labidi, Cara C. Manning, John W. Pohlman, Gregor Rehder, Katy J. Sparrow, Philippe D. Tortell, Tina Treude, David L. Valentine, Bess B. Ward, Simon Yang, and Leonid N. Yurganov
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The oceans are a net source of the major greenhouse gases; however there has been little coordination of oceanic methane and nitrous oxide measurements. The scientific community has recently embarked on a series of capacity-building exercises to improve the interoperability of dissolved methane and nitrous oxide measurements. This paper derives from a workshop which discussed the challenges and opportunities for oceanic methane and nitrous oxide research in the near future.
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Short summary
A global model is constrained with empirical relationships to quantify how shifts in sinking-particle sizes modulate particulate organic carbon export production changes in a warming ocean. Including the effect of dynamic particle sizes on remineralization reduces the magnitude of predicted 100-year changes in export production by ~14 %. Projections of future export could thus be improved by considering dynamic phytoplankton and particle-size-dependent remineralization depths.
A global model is constrained with empirical relationships to quantify how shifts in...
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