Jin, Xin: UCLA (Project Lead)
Project Funding:
2008 - 2011
NRA: 2007 NASA: Carbon Cycle Science
Funded by NASA
Abstract:
The continental margins supply organic carbon (OC) and nutrients to the open ocean, which can lead to downstream productivity and respiration changes that influence the air-sea CO2 balance of the open ocean substantially. However, very little is known about this potentially important interaction of the coastal and open oceans. We therefore hypothesize that continental margins have a substantial impact on the open ocean air-sea CO2 balance by providing OC and nutrients to the open ocean. In order to investigate this hypothesis we propose to address the following questions: (1) How well can we represent the offshore transport of OC and nutrients in our model? (2) What are the roles of the offshore transport of OC and nutrients on open ocean air-sea CO2 flux, respectively? (3) What are the magnitudes of the air-sea CO2 flux due to the offshore transport? We will address these questions using a modeling strategy combined with data analyses, taking advantage of the substantial number of satellite data sets available for the continental margins, and using state-of-the-art coupled high resolution physical/biogeochemical/ecological models configured for the Pacific Ocean and the U.S. West Coast (USWC). We will use satellite data to estimate offshore transport of OC and nutrients. We will use ROMS model at eddy-resolving configuration (5 km) to simulate complex biological and physical processes in USWC. We will use ROMS model at eddy-permitting configuration (50 km) to simulate the response of the offshore transport in the Pacific Ocean. Our research is firmly based on the observations and newly developed model skills and will substantially reduce the uncertainties. The expected results will directly support NASA’s objectives in advancing understanding of the global carbon cycle and to quantify changes in atmospheric CO2 as well as terrestrial and aquatic carbon storage in response to human activities and natural events.
More details may be found in the following project profile(s):
