Investigating the role that the Southern Ocean biological pump plays in determining global ocean oxygen concentrations and deoxygenation

Global ocean circulation connects marine biogeochemical cycles through the long-range transport of nutrients and oxygen with the Southern Ocean (SO) acting as a water mass crossroads. The biological pump in the SO has been shown to play an important role in these dynamics and the amount of export production is known to have a large impact on remote deep ocean nutrients and dissolved inorganic carbon. However, the role that the SO biological pump plays in determining ocean oxygen concentrations is less well understood. In this study we investigate these dynamics by shutting off the SO biological pump in three different general ocean circulation models, each of which is coupled to a different prognostic biogeochemical model. Our results indicate that the present day SO biological pump is responsible for reducing oxygen levels in the deep ocean by up 70 mmol m-3. The SO biological pump also removes nutrients that would otherwise be used to fuel productivity and subsequently reduce oxygen in mid- to low-latitude sub-surface waters (i.e., without the SO biological pump, oxygen is lower in these regions due to higher productivity). Since SO productivity and export is expected to change in response to climate change we also examine the role that these changes may play in future ocean deoxygenation

Impact of atmospheric and terrestrial CO2 feedbacks on fertilization-induced marine carbon uptake

The sensitivity of oceanic CO2 uptake to alterations in the marine biological carbon pump, such as brought about by natural or purposeful ocean fertilization, has repeatedly been investigated by studies employing numerical biogeochemical ocean models. It is shown here that the results of such ocean-centered studies are very sensitive to the assumption made about the response of the carbon reservoirs on the atmospheric side of the sea surface. Assumptions made include prescribed atmospheric pCO2, an interactive atmospheric CO2 pool exchanging carbon with the ocean but not with the terrestrial biosphere, and an interactive atmosphere that exchanges carbon with both oceanic and terrestrial carbon pools. The impact of these assumptions on simulated annual to millennial oceanic carbon uptake is investigated for a hypothetical increase in the C:N ratio of the biological pump and for an idealized enhancement of phytoplankton growth. Compared to simulations with interactive atmosphere, using prescribed atmospheric pCO2 overestimates the sensitivity of the oceanic CO2 uptake to changes in the biological pump, by about 2%, 25%, 100%, and >500% on annual, decadal, centennial, and millennial timescales, respectively. The smaller efficiency of the oceanic carbon uptake under an interactive atmosphere is due to the back flux of CO2 that occurs when atmospheric CO2 is reduced. Adding an interactive terrestrial carbon pool to the atmosphere-ocean model system has a small effect on annual timescales, but increases the simulated fertilization-induced oceanic carbon uptake by about 4%, 50%, and 100% on decadal, centennial, and millennial timescales, respectively, for pCO2 sensitivities of the terrestrial carbon storage in the middle range of the C4MIP models (Friedlingstein et al., 2006). For such sensitivities, a substantial fraction of oceanic carbon uptake induced by natural or purposeful ocean fertilization originates, on timescales longer than decades, not from the atmosphere but from the terrestrial biosphere

Stoichiometries of remineralisation and denitrification in global biogeochemical ocean models

Since the seminal paper of Redfield (1934), constant stoichiometric elemental ratios linking biotic carbon and nutrient fluxes are often assumed in marine biogeochemistry, and especially in coupled biogeochemical circulation models, to couple the global oxygen, carbon and nutrient cycles. However, when looking in more detail, some deviations from the classical Redfield stoichiometry have been reported, in particular with respect to remineralization of organic matter changing with depth or with ambient oxygen levels. We here compare the assumptions about the stoichiometry of organic matter and its remineralization that are used explicitly and implicitly in common biogeochemical ocean models. We find that the implicit assumptions made about the hydrogen content of organic matter can lead to inconsistencies in the modeled remineralization and denitrification stoichiometries. It is suggested that future marine biogeochemical models explicitly state the chemical composition assumed for the organic matter, including its oxygen and hydrogen content