Net ecosystem production and organic carbon balance of U.S. East Coast estuaries: A synthesis approach

Global Biogeochemical Cycles - Tập 29 Số 1 - Trang 96-111 - 2015
Maria Herrmann1, Raymond G. Najjar1, W. Michael Kemp2, Richard B. Alexander3, Elizabeth W. Boyer4, Wei‐Jun Cai5, P. C. Griffith6, Kevin D. Kroeger7, S. Leigh McCallister8, Richard A. Smith3
1Department of Meteorology Pennsylvania State University University Park Pennsylvania USA
2Horn Point Laboratory University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science Cambridge Maryland USA
3USGS, National Water Quality Assessment Program; Reston Virginia USA
4Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
5School of Marine Science and Policy, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, USA
6Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems Office Sigma Space/NASA GSFC Greenbelt Maryland USA
7USGS, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA
8Department of Biology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond Virginia, USA

Tóm tắt

AbstractNet ecosystem production (NEP) and the overall organic carbon budget for the estuaries along the East Coast of the United States are estimated. We focus on the open estuarine waters, excluding the fringing wetlands. We developed empirical models relating NEP to loading ratios of dissolved inorganic nitrogen to total organic carbon, and carbon burial in the sediment to estuarine water residence time and total nitrogen input across the landward boundary. Output from a data‐constrained water quality model was used to estimate inputs of total nitrogen and organic carbon to the estuaries across the landward boundary, including fluvial and tidal‐wetland sources. Organic carbon export from the estuaries to the continental shelf was computed by difference, assuming steady state. Uncertainties in the budget were estimated by allowing uncertainties in the supporting model relations. Collectively, U.S. East Coast estuaries are net heterotrophic, with the area‐integrated NEP of −1.5 (−2.8, −1.0) Tg C yr−1 (best estimate and 95% confidence interval) and area‐normalized NEP of −3.2 (−6.1, −2.3) mol C m−2 yr−1. East Coast estuaries serve as a source of organic carbon to the shelf, exporting 3.4 (2.0, 4.3) Tg C yr−1 or 7.6 (4.4, 9.5) mol C m−2 yr−1. Organic carbon inputs from fluvial and tidal‐wetland sources for the region are estimated at 5.4 (4.6, 6.5) Tg C yr−1 or 12 (10, 14) mol C m−2 yr−1 and carbon burial in the open estuarine waters at 0.50 (0.33, 0.78) Tg C yr−1 or 1.1 (0.73, 1.7) mol C m−2 yr−1. Our results highlight the importance of estuarine systems in the overall coastal budget of organic carbon, suggesting that in the aggregate, U.S. East Coast estuaries assimilate (via respiration and burial) ~40% of organic carbon inputs from fluvial and tidal‐wetland sources and allow ~60% to be exported to the shelf.

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Global Biogeochemical Cycles

Tập 29 Số 1

96-111

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