The U.S. Eastern Continental Shelf Carbon Cycling Project (U.S. ECoS)

Marjorie Friedrichs, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, marjy@vims.edu (Presenter)
Eileen Hofmann, Old Dominion University, hofmann@ccpo.odu.edu
Bronwyn Cahill, IMCS, Rutgers University, bronwyn@marine.rutgers.edu
Katja Fennel, Dalhousie University, katja.fennel@dal.ca
Kimberly Hyde, NOAA, kimberly.hyde@noaa.gov
Antonio Mannino, NASA GSFC, antonio.mannino@nasa.gov
Raymond Najjar, Pennsylvania State University, najjar@meteo.psu.edu
Sergio Signorini, NASA GSFC, sergio.signorini@nasa.gov
Hanqin Tian, Auburn University, tianhan@auburn.edu
John Wilkin, IMCS, Rutgers University, wilkin@marine.rutgers.edu
Yongjin Xiao, Virginia Insitute of Marine Science, yxiao@vims.edu
Jianhong Xue, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, jxue@vims.edu

The role of coastal margins in regional and global carbon budgets is not well understood, primarily because many key shelf fluxes are not yet well quantified over annual time scales, e.g. the exchange of carbon across the land-ocean and shelf-slope interfaces, air-sea exchange of CO2, burial, and biological processes including productivity. Because of the temporal and spatial undersampling typically associated with most in situ observational studies, model-derived carbon flux estimates are likely to be the only viable approach for defining these fluxes in a consistent manner on annual time scales. However, such models require the interfacing of coastal, shelf and oceanic systems, which remains a challenge for the modeling community.

The goal of our USECoS (U.S. Eastern Continental Shelf Carbon Cycling) project is (1) to estimate coastal carbon fluxes in this region using models quantitatively evaluated by comparisons with observations, and (2) to establish a framework for predicting how these fluxes may be modified as a result of climate and land use change. Recent efforts have been geared toward linking our coastal biogeochemical-circulation model with a dynamic land ecosystem model, as well as directed toward refining the role of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in our coastal ocean model and including additional plankton size classes. Climate sensitivity experiments are being conducted in order to examine the magnitude of future changes in the ocean’s role as a sink of atmospheric CO2. In addition, satellite algorithms for pCO2 and DOM are being developed in order to evaluate our modeling efforts. This presentation will provide an overview of the U.S. ECoS team’s results to date.

Presentation Type:  Poster

Session:  Coupled Processes at Land-Atmosphere-Ocean Interfaces   (Mon 4:00 PM)

Associated Project(s): 

• Friedrichs, Marjy: Impacts of Changing Climate and Land Use on Carbon Cycling and Budgets of the Coastal Ocean Margin: Observations, Analysis, and Modeling ...details
• Friedrichs, Marjy: The Impacts of Climate Change on Phytoplankton Community Structure along the U.S. Northeastern Continental Margin ...details
• Friedrichs, Marjy: U.S. Eastern Continential Shelf Carbon Cycling (USECoS): modeling, data assimilation and analysis ...details

Poster Location ID: 23