Southern Ocean carbon export efficiency in relation to temperature and primary productivity

Satellite remote sensing and numerical models are widely used to estimate large-scale variations in ocean carbon export, but the relationship between export efficiency (e-ratio) of sinking organic carbon out of the surface ocean and its drivers remains poorly understood, especially in the Southern O...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2020-08, Vol.10 (1), p.13494-13494, Article 13494
Main Authors: Fan, Gaojing, Han, Zhengbing, Ma, Wentao, Chen, Shuangling, Chai, Fei, Mazloff, Matthew R., Pan, Jianming, Zhang, Haisheng
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
704/158/47/4113
704/47/4113
704/829/826
Antarctic zone
Carbon
Ecosystem structure
Humanities and Social Sciences
In situ measurement
Low temperature
Mathematical models
Minerals
multidisciplinary
Particulate organic carbon
Productivity
Remote sensing
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Temperature effects
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Summary:Satellite remote sensing and numerical models are widely used to estimate large-scale variations in ocean carbon export, but the relationship between export efficiency (e-ratio) of sinking organic carbon out of the surface ocean and its drivers remains poorly understood, especially in the Southern Ocean. Here, we assess the effects of temperature and primary productivity on e-ratio by combining particulate organic carbon export flux from in situ measurements during 1997–2013, environmental parameters from satellite products, and outputs from ocean biogeochemical models in the Southern Ocean. Results show that “High Productivity Low E-ratio” (HPLE) is a common phenomenon in the Subantarctic Zone and the Polar Frontal Zone, but not the Antarctic Zone. The e-ratio shows little dependence on temperature below 6 °C. Our results support the hypothesis that the HPLE phenomenon is due to the large contribution of non-sinking organic carbon. Both temperature and ballast minerals play less important roles in controlling e-ratio than ecosystem structure at low temperatures. These findings suggest that non-sinking organic carbon, ecosystem structure, and region-specific parameterizations of e-ratio are key factors to quantify the carbon export in the Southern Ocean.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-020-70417-z