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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 30, NO. 16, 1849, doi:10.1029/2003GL017633, 2003

The role of marsh-dominated heterotrophic continental margins in transport of CO₂ between the atmosphere, the land-sea interface and the ocean

Wei-Jun Cai

Department of Marine Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA

Zhaohui Aleck Wang

Department of Marine Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA

Yongchen Wang

Department of Marine Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA

Abstract

Recent air-to-sea CO₂ flux measurements at several major continental shelves suggest that shelves may act as a one-way pump and absorb atmospheric CO₂ into the ocean. The U.S. South Atlantic Bight (SAB) contrasts these findings in that it acts as a source of CO₂ to the atmosphere while simultaneously exporting dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) to the open ocean. The shelf-wide heterotrophy and carbon exports in the SAB are subsidized by the export of organic carbon from the abundant intertidal marshes, which are a sink for atmospheric CO₂. It is proposed here that the SAB represents a marsh-dominated heterotrophic ocean margin as opposed to river-dominated autotrophic margins. Based on this and other studies, DIC export flux from margins to the open ocean must be significant in the overall global ocean carbon budget.

Received 28 April 2003; accepted 16 July 2003; published 22 August 2003.

Index Terms: 4806 Oceanography: Biological and Chemical: Carbon cycling; 4219 Oceanography: General: Continental shelf processes; 4504 Oceanography: Physical: Air/sea interactions (0312).

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Citation: Cai, W., Z. A. Wang, and Y. Wang (2003), The role of marsh-dominated heterotrophic continental margins in transport of CO₂ between the atmosphere, the land-sea interface and the ocean, Geophys. Res. Lett., 30(16), 1849, doi:10.1029/2003GL017633.

Copyright 2003 by the American Geophysical Union.