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EOS, TRANSACTIONS AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION, VOL. 89, NO. 38, doi:10.1029/2008EO380004, 2008

Organic Carbon in the Ocean's Twilight Zone

Frank Dehairs

Department of Analytical and Environmental Chemistry, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium


Anouk de Brauwere

Department of Analytical and Environmental Chemistry, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium


Marc Elskens

Department of Analytical and Environmental Chemistry, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium


Abstract

Controls on Organic Carbon Export and Twilight Zone Remineralization; Brussels, Belgium, 28–30 May 2008; Today, the key role played by oceans in the Earth's carbon cycle is widely recognized. The important boundary to consider is not the ocean-atmosphere interface, across which the carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration gradient is small, but the seasonal and permanent thermoclines, whose positions range from about 20 to 300 meters in depth. Once CO2 is delivered to depths beyond these thermoclines, the sequestration efficiency for CO2 is increased.

Published 16 September 2008.

Index Terms: 4805 Oceanography: Biological and Chemical: Biogeochemical cycles, processes, and modeling (0412, 0414, 0793, 1615, 4912); 4806 Oceanography: Biological and Chemical: Carbon cycling (0428); 4815 Oceanography: Biological and Chemical: Ecosystems, structure, dynamics, and modeling (0439).

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Citation: Dehairs, F., A. de Brauwere, and M. Elskens (2008), Organic Carbon in the Ocean's Twilight Zone, Eos Trans. AGU, 89(38), doi:10.1029/2008EO380004.