Controls on surface water carbonate chemistry along North American ocean margins

Wei-Jun Cai (), Yuan-Yuan Xu, Richard A. Feely, Rik Wanninkhof, Bror Jönsson, Simone R. Alin, Leticia Barbero, Jessica N. Cross, Kumiko Azetsu-Scott, Andrea J. Fassbender, Brendan R. Carter, Li-Qing Jiang, Pierre Pepin, Baoshan Chen, Najid Hussain, Janet J. Reimer, Liang Xue, Joseph E. Salisbury, José Martín Hernández-Ayón, Chris Langdon, Qian Li, Adrienne J. Sutton, Chen-Tung A. Chen and Dwight K. Gledhill
Additional contact information
Wei-Jun Cai: University of Delaware
Yuan-Yuan Xu: University of Delaware
Richard A. Feely: NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory
Rik Wanninkhof: NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory
Bror Jönsson: Plymouth Marine Laboratory
Simone R. Alin: NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory
Leticia Barbero: NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory
Jessica N. Cross: NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory
Kumiko Azetsu-Scott: Bedford Institute of Oceanography
Andrea J. Fassbender: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
Brendan R. Carter: NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory
Li-Qing Jiang: University of Maryland
Pierre Pepin: Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Centre
Baoshan Chen: University of Delaware
Najid Hussain: University of Delaware
Janet J. Reimer: University of Delaware
Liang Xue: Ministry of Natural Resources
Joseph E. Salisbury: University of New Hampshire
José Martín Hernández-Ayón: Universidad Autónoma de Baja California
Chris Langdon: University of Miami
Qian Li: University of Delaware
Adrienne J. Sutton: NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory
Chen-Tung A. Chen: National Sun Yat-sen University
Dwight K. Gledhill: NOAA Ocean Acidification Program

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Abstract Syntheses of carbonate chemistry spatial patterns are important for predicting ocean acidification impacts, but are lacking in coastal oceans. Here, we show that along the North American Atlantic and Gulf coasts the meridional distributions of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and carbonate mineral saturation state (Ω) are controlled by partial equilibrium with the atmosphere resulting in relatively low DIC and high Ω in warm southern waters and the opposite in cold northern waters. However, pH and the partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) do not exhibit a simple spatial pattern and are controlled by local physical and net biological processes which impede equilibrium with the atmosphere. Along the Pacific coast, upwelling brings subsurface waters with low Ω and pH to the surface where net biological production works to raise their values. Different temperature sensitivities of carbonate properties and different timescales of influencing processes lead to contrasting property distributions within and among margins.

Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-16530-z Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-16530-z

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-16530-z

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().