the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Source-to-Sink Pathways of Dissolved Organic Carbon in the River-Estuary-Ocean Continuum: A Modeling Investigation
Abstract. Transport and cycling of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) are most active in estuaries. However, a comprehensive understanding of the sources, sinks, and transformation processes of DOC throughout the river-estuary-ocean continuum is yet to be derived. Taking the Changjiang Estuary and adjacent shelf sea as a case study area, this study applies a physics-biogeochemistry coupled model to investigate DOC cycling the river-estuary-ocean continuum. DOC is classified into two types depending on the origin, namely terrigenous DOC (tDOC) and marine DOC (mDOC). Simulation results were compared with observation and showed a satisfactory model performance. Our study indicates that in summer, the distribution of DOC in the Changjiang Estuary is driven by both hydrodynamics and biogeochemical processes, while in winter, it is primarily driven by hydrodynamics. The spatial transition from terrigenous-dominated DOC to marine-dominated DOC occurs mainly across the contour line of a salinity of 20 PSU. Additionally, the source-sink patterns in summer and winter are significantly different, and the gradient changes in chlorophyll-a indicate the transition between sources and sinks of DOC. A five-year averaged budget analysis of the model results indicates that the Changjiang Estuary has the capability to export DOC, with tDOC contributing 31 % and mDOC accounting for 69 %. The larger proportion of mDOC is primarily attributed to local biogeochemical processes. The model offers a novel perspective on the distribution of DOC in the Changjiang Estuary and holds potential for its application in future organic carbon cycling of other estuaries.
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CC1: 'Comment on bg-2024-2', Y. Jun Xu, 16 Apr 2024
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Line53: Discharge from the Changjiang River has changed since the Three Georges Dam was completed in 2003. The cited reference (Tian et al., 1993) is outdated and I would suggest the authors cite more recent publications, e.g., Zhang W et al. 2021 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2021.108075) or Yin S et al. 2023 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162758)Â
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2024-2-CC1 -
AC1: 'Reply on CC1', Jialing Yao, 16 Apr 2024
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Thank you for your review and suggestion. I will update the citiation in the revision.
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2024-2-AC1 -
CC2: 'Reply on AC1', Y. Jun Xu, 17 Apr 2024
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The thank the authors for their response to my previous comment.
I have a couple of comments/suggestions:
- This modeling work was performed for the period 2013-2017 and a value of 385 ppm was chosen for the atmospheric CO2 concentration for the five study years. However, the atmospheric CO2 conc. already reached 400 ppm in 2013, and with a ~3 ppm annual increase for the following years. Please discuss the possible effect of this CO2 setting on the modeling results.
- 320-322: I would suggest the authors add more recent publications on the subject; for instance, Mekong River (Li S. et al., https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2013.09.024), Yellow River ( Ran, L. et al., https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2013.06.018), Mississippi River (Reiman & Xu, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2019.124093).
- 322-324: The Atchafalaya River is a large freshwater-swamp system and it is not affected by marine water. DOC removal in the system is mainly through the high connectivity of the river's braided channels with extensive floodplains and backwaters (see Xu et al., https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171604; Xu YJ, https://doi.org/10.3390/w5020379) Â
- L324-335: A considerable amount of estuarine DOC can be lost to the atmosphere via CO2 (e.g., He & Xu, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-017-0320-4). This aspect deserves to be discussed.
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2024-2-CC2
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CC2: 'Reply on AC1', Y. Jun Xu, 17 Apr 2024
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AC1: 'Reply on CC1', Jialing Yao, 16 Apr 2024
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