Lohrenz, Steven (Steve): University of Massachusetts (Project Lead)
Cai, Wei-Jun: University of Delaware (Co-Investigator)
Project Funding:
2005 - 2009
Funded by NASA
Abstract:
Global assessments of the oceanic carbon cycle have not fully accounted for carbon processes occurring at coastal margins. Recent measurements suggest that margins affected by large river plumes may act as a significant sink of CO2 from the atmosphere. However, quantification of the contributions of river-influenced margins to regional CO2 fluxes is difficult due to the high degree of spatial and temporal variability in these regions. We have successfully developed and applied an algorithm for assessment of areal distributions of surface water partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) from MODIS imagery in the northern Gulf of Mexico. This algorithm was derived from relationships of in situ measurements of surface pCO2 to environmental variables (T, S, chlorophyll). We have subsequently employed a combined strategy of ship-based and satellite observations to provide spatial and temporal coverage for broad scale assessments of pCO2 distributions and air-sea fluxes of CO2. The primary objective of our research is to apply these approaches to the characterization of pCO2 and air-sea fluxes of CO2 in the river influenced margin of the northern Gulf of Mexico.
Publications:
Ren, W., Tian, H., Cai, W., Lohrenz, S. E., Hopkinson, C. S., Huang, W., Yang, J., Tao, B., Pan, S., He, R. 2016. Century-long increasing trend and variability of dissolved organic carbon export from the Mississippi River basin driven by natural and anthropogenic forcing. Global Biogeochemical Cycles. 30(9), 1288-1299. DOI: 10.1002/2016GB005395
Lohrenz, S. E., Fahnenstiel, G. L., Schofield, O., and Millie, D. F. (2008) Coastal sediment dynamics and river discharge as key factors influencing coastal ecosystem productivity in southeastern Lake Michigan. Oceanography 21:60-69.
Lohrenz, S. E., Redalje, D. G., Cai, W., Acker, J., Dagg, M. 2008. A retrospective analysis of nutrients and phytoplankton productivity in the Mississippi River plume. Continental Shelf Research. 28(12), 1466-1475. DOI: 10.1016/j.csr.2007.06.019
Cai, W., Guo, X., Chen, C. A., Dai, M., Zhang, L., Zhai, W., Lohrenz, S. E., Yin, K., Harrison, P. J., Wang, Y. 2008. A comparative overview of weathering intensity and HCO3[?] flux in the world's major rivers with emphasis on the Changjiang, Huanghe, Zhujiang (Pearl) and Mississippi Rivers. Continental Shelf Research. 28(12), 1538-1549. DOI: 10.1016/j.csr.2007.10.014
Green, R. E., Breed, G. A., Dagg, M. J., Lohrenz, S. E. 2008. Modeling the response of primary production and sedimentation to variable nitrate loading in the Mississippi River plume. Continental Shelf Research. 28(12), 1451-1465. DOI: 10.1016/j.csr.2007.02.008
Cai, W. J., S. E. Lohrenz, (2007) Carbon, Nitrogen, and Phosphorus Fluxes from the Mississippi River and the Transformation and Fate of Biological Elements in the River Plume and the Adjacent Margin, In: Carbon and nutrient fluxes in continental margins: a global synthesis (K. K. Liu, L. Atkinson, R. Quinones and L. Talaue-McManus, Eds.), Springer-Verlag, NY.
Dagg, M.J., Ammerman, J.W., Amon, R.M.W., Gardner, W.S., Green, R.E., Lohrenz, S.E., 2007. A review of water column processes influencing hypoxia in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Estuaries and Coasts 30 (5), 735-752.
Cai, W., Dai, M., Wang, Y. 2006. Air-sea exchange of carbon dioxide in ocean margins: A province-based synthesis. Geophysical Research Letters. 33(12). DOI: 10.1029/2006GL026219
Lohrenz, S. E., Cai, W. 2006. Satellite ocean color assessment of air-sea fluxes of CO2in a river-dominated coastal margin. Geophysical Research Letters. 33(1). DOI: 10.1029/2005GL023942
2008 NASA Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Joint Science Workshop Posters
- Variability in satellite algorithms for regional assessments of pCO2
-- (Steven E. Lohrenz, Wei-Jun Cai, Xiaogang Chen, Feizhou Chen, Merritt Tuel, Sumit Chakraborty)
[abstract]
[poster]
More details may be found in the following project profile(s):