The carbon budget of the North Sea

A carbon budget has been established for the North Sea, a shelf sea on the NW European continental shelf. The carbon exchange fluxes with the North Atlantic Ocean dominate the gross carbon budget. The net carbon budget – more relevant to the issue of the contribution of the coastal ocean to the mari...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biogeosciences 2005-01, Vol.2 (1), p.87-96
Main Authors: Thomas, H., Bozec, Y., de Baar, H. J. W., Elkalay, K., Frankignoulle, M., Schiettecatte, L.-S., Kattner, G., Borges, A. V.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aquatic sciences & oceanology
Astrophysics
Continental interfaces, environment
Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics
Earth Sciences
Life sciences
Marine
Ocean, Atmosphere
Physics
Sciences aquatiques & océanologie
Sciences du vivant
Sciences of the Universe
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Summary:A carbon budget has been established for the North Sea, a shelf sea on the NW European continental shelf. The carbon exchange fluxes with the North Atlantic Ocean dominate the gross carbon budget. The net carbon budget – more relevant to the issue of the contribution of the coastal ocean to the marine carbon cycle – is dominated by the carbon inputs from rivers, the Baltic Sea and the atmosphere. The North Sea acts as a sink for organic carbon and thus can be characterised as a heterotrophic system. The dominant carbon sink is the final export to the North Atlantic Ocean. More than 90% of the CO2 taken up from the atmosphere is exported to the North Atlantic Ocean making the North Sea a highly efficient continental shelf pump for carbon.
ISSN:1726-4189
1726-4170
1726-4189
DOI:10.5194/bg-2-87-2005