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JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 108, NO. C5, 3140, doi:10.1029/2000JC000571, 2003

Distribution of surface carbon dioxide and air-sea exchange in the English Channel and adjacent areas

Alberto Vieira Borges

Unité d'Océanographie Chimique, Institut de Physique B5, Université de Liège, Sart Tilman, Liege, Belgium

Michel Frankignoulle

Unité d'Océanographie Chimique, Institut de Physique B5, Université de Liège, Sart Tilman, Liege, Belgium

Abstract

In the present paper we report the distribution of the partial pressure of CO₂ (pCO₂) in surface waters along 13 transects in the English Channel, covering the four seasons. The spatial and temporal variability of pCO₂ is controlled by a complex combination of primary production (from May to June), degradation of organic matter, temperature change, and freshwater inputs. Preliminary air-sea CO₂ exchange computations suggest that the Channel is not a major sink of atmospheric CO₂ and is probably neutral from the point of view of atmospheric coupling. This is mainly related to a relatively low export and/or burial of organic carbon and intense benthic calcification.

Received 26 July 2000; accepted 3 February 2003; published 8 May 2003.

Index Terms: 4219 Oceanography: General: Continental shelf processes; 4243 Oceanography: General: Marginal and semienclosed seas; 4805 Oceanography: Biological and Chemical: Biogeochemical cycles (1615); 4806 Oceanography: Biological and Chemical: Carbon cycling; 4820 Oceanography: Biological and Chemical: Gases.

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Citation: Borges, A. V., and M. Frankignoulle (2003), Distribution of surface carbon dioxide and air-sea exchange in the English Channel and adjacent areas, J. Geophys. Res., 108(C5), 3140, doi:10.1029/2000JC000571.

Copyright 2003 by the American Geophysical Union.