Document Type

Article

Department/Program

Virginia Institute of Marine Science

Publication Date

7-2003

Journal

Geophysical Research Letters

Volume

30

Issue

3

First Page

1744

Abstract

] In the late 1980s, bomb C-14 was present in suspended particulate organic carbon (POC) from the North Central Pacific (NCP) and Sargasso Sea ( SS) throughout most of the water column, demonstrating that deep POC had exchanged with atmospheric CO2 in the past 30 years. Upon reoccupation of these sites in 1999 and 2000, respectively, we observed that the delta(13)C values of suspended POC were lower than those measured a decade earlier. This demonstrates that anthropogenic CO2 from fossil fuel and biomass burning has penetrated a major organic matter pool in the deep ocean. Delta(14)C measured in the suspended POC showed similar or higher values in the deep Sargasso Sea and decreased values in the deep NCP compared to those measured previously. We use a box model to show that the differences in the radiocarbon results are likely due to the presence of resuspended sediment that is laterally advected from the continental margin to the deep Sargasso Sea.

DOI

10.1029/2003GL017423

Keywords

North Pacific-Ocean; Sargasso Sea; Bomb Radiocarbon; Matter; C-14; Co2; Variability; Delta-C-13; Sediment; Water

Share

COinS