Particulate organic carbon export fluxes on Chukchi Shelf,western Arctic Ocean,derived from ^(210)Po/^(210)Pb disequilibrium

Fluxes of particulate organic carbon （POC） were derived from ^210Po/^210Pb disequilibrium during the 4th Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition （CHINARE-4） from July 1 to September 28, 2010. Average residence times of particulate ^210Po in the euphotic zone were -16.00 a to 1.54 a, which are higher than those of dissolved ^210^Po （-6.89 a to -0.70 a）. Great excesses of dissolved ^210Po were observed at all stations, with an average 210^Po/^210^Pb ratio of 1.91±0.20, resulting from 210^Pb atmospheric deposition after sea ice melt. POC fluxes from the euphoric zone were estimated by two methods （E and B） in the irreversible scavenging model. Estimated POC fluxes were 945-126 mmol C/（m^2·a）and 1 848-109 mmol C/（m^2·a） by methods E and B, respectively, both decreasing from low to high latitude. The results are comparable to previous works for the same region, indicating efficient biological pumping in the Chukchi Sea. The results can improve understanding of the carbon cycle in the western Arctic Ocean.

SEASONAL VARIATIONS OF RIVERINE ORGANIC CARBON CONTENTS IN MAKOU AND HEKOU GAUGE STATIONS OF THE ZHUJIANG RIVER, CHINA

Water samples were collected and analyzed in high water season (July 1997) and in middle water season (October, 1997) from two main lower reach gauge stations of the Zhujiang (Pearl) River, namely Hekou and Makou, respectively. Content of particulate organic carbon is always higher than that of dissolved organic carbon in both seasons, which is obviously different from the global average pattern, i.e. dissolved organic carbon is the dominant component of the transported riverine organic carbon. The content of dissolved and particulate organic carbon changes with the water levels in a direct ratio. The percentage of organic carbon in total suspended substance changes with the content of total suspended substance in an inverse ratio. The more intense is the soil erosion in the drainage, the more concentrated is the riverine organic carbon in the river. The contribution of autochthonous organic carbon is larger in high water season than in middle water season.

Reconstructing Environmental Changes of a Coastal Lagoon with Coral Reefs in Southeastern Hainan Island

Coastal lagoons with small catchment basins are highly sensitive to natural processes and anthropogenic activities. To figure out the environmental changes of a coastal lagoon and its contribution to carbon burial, two sediment cores were collected in Xincun Lagoon, southeastern Hainan Island and (210) ~Pb activities, grain size parameters, total organic carbon(TOC), total nitrogen(TN), total inorganic carbon(TIC) and stable carbon isotopes(δ^(13)C) were measured. The results show that in 1770–1815, the decreasing water exchange capacity with outer open water, probably caused by the shifting and narrowing of the tidal inlet, not only diminished the currents and fined the sediments in the lagoon, but also reduced the organic matter of marine sources. From 1815 to 1950, the sedimentary environment of Xincun Lagoon was frequently influenced by storm events. These extreme events resulted in the high fluctuation of sediment grain size and sorting, as well as the great variation in contributions of terrestrial(higher plants, soils) and marine sources(phytoplankton, algae, seagrass). The extremely high content of TIC, compared to TOC before 1950 could be attributed to the large-scale coverage of coral reefs. However, with the boost of seawater aquaculture activities after 1970, the health growth of coral species was severely threatened, and corresponding production and inorganic carbon burial flux reduced. The apparent enhanced inorganic carbon burial rate after 1990 might result from the concomitant carbonate debris produced by seawater aquaculture. This result is important for local government long-term coastal management and environmental planning.

Simulations of dissolved oxygen concentration in CMIP5 Earth system models

The climatologies of dissolved oxygen concentration in the ocean simulated by nine Earth system models(ESMs) from the historical emission driven experiment of CMIP5(Phase 5 of the Climate Model Intercomparison Project) are quantitatively evaluated by comparing the simulated oxygen to the WOA09 observation based on common statistical metrics. At the sea surface, distribution of dissolved oxygen is well simulated by all nine ESMs due to well-simulated sea surface temperature(SST), with both globally-averaged error and root mean square error(RMSE) close to zero, and both correlation coefficients and normalized standard deviation close to 1. However, the model performance differs from each other at the intermediate depth and deep ocean where important water masses exist. At the depth of 500 to 1 000 m where the oxygen minimum zones(OMZs) exist, all ESMs show a maximum of globally-averaged error and RMSE, and a minimum of the spatial correlation coefficient. In the ocean interior, the reason for model biases is complicated, and both the meridional overturning circulation(MOC) and the particulate organic carbon flux contribute to the biases of dissolved oxygen distribution. Analysis results show the physical bias contributes more. Simulation bias of important water masses such as North Atlantic Deep Water(NADW), Antarctic Bottom Water(AABW) and North Pacific Intermediate Water(NPIW) indicated by distributions of MOCs greatly affects the distributions of oxygen in north Atlantic, Southern Ocean and north Pacific, respectively.Although the model simulations of oxygen differ greatly from each other in the ocean interior, the multi-model mean shows a better agreement with the observation.