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Late autumn to spring changes in the inorganic and organic carbon dissolved in the water column at Scholaert Channel, West Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 November 2009

Xiaomeng Wang
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Marine Chemistry Theory and Technology, Ministry of Education, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China266100 Institut des sciences de la mer de Rimouski, Université du Québec à Rimouski, Québec, CanadaG5L 3A1
Gui-Peng Yang
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Marine Chemistry Theory and Technology, Ministry of Education, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China266100
Damian López
Affiliation:
Institut des sciences de la mer de Rimouski, Université du Québec à Rimouski, Québec, CanadaG5L 3A1
Gustavo Ferreyra
Affiliation:
Institut des sciences de la mer de Rimouski, Université du Québec à Rimouski, Québec, CanadaG5L 3A1 Instituto Antártico Argentino, Cerrito 1248 (1010) Buenos Aires, Argentina
Karine Lemarchand
Affiliation:
Institut des sciences de la mer de Rimouski, Université du Québec à Rimouski, Québec, CanadaG5L 3A1
Huixiang Xie*
Affiliation:
Institut des sciences de la mer de Rimouski, Université du Québec à Rimouski, Québec, CanadaG5L 3A1

Abstract

The temporal changes in dissolved inorganic (DIC) and organic carbon concentrations (DOC) were monitored from late autumn to spring 2006 in the Scholaert Channel, West Antarctic Peninsula. Surface DIC spanned a small range (2163.3 to 2194.5 μmol kg-1), increasing from late autumn to winter and then decreasing in spring. An excess of DOC (7.0–63.6 μmol l-1), against a deepwater background concentration of 44 μmol l-1, existed in the surface mixed layer throughout the sampling period. Mass-balance budgeting indicates that the DIC dynamics were primarily governed by remineralization in winter and by primary production in spring despite very low biomass of both autotrophic and heterotrophic organisms. The net community production (7.3 mmol C m-2 d-1) in spring was mainly partitioned to DOC accumulation (3.6 mmol m-2 d-1) and downward export of particulate organic carbon (POC) (2.9 mmol m-2 d-1) rather than POC accretion (0.8 mmol m-2 d-1) in the surface mixed layer. The study area acted as a source of CO2 to the atmosphere in winter (∼0.8 mmol m-2 d-1) and a sink in spring (2.3–5.3 mmol m-2 d-1), and hence was not a one-way CO2 sink as had been previously hypothesized for marginal sea ice zones.

Type
Biological Sciences
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2009

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