Rapid Acidification of the Arctic Chukchi Sea Waters Driven by Anthropogenic Forcing and Biological Carbon Recycling

• The acidification of coastal waters is distinguished from the open ocean because of much stronger synergistic effects between anthropogenic forcing and local biogeochemical processes. However, ocean acidification research is still rather limited in polar coastal oceans. Here, we present a 17-year (2002-2019) observational data set in the Chukchi Sea to determine the long-term changes in pH and aragonite saturation state (omega(arag)). We found that pH and omega(arag) declined in different water masses with average rates of -0.0047 +/- 0.0026 years(-1) and -0.017 +/- 0.009 years(-1), respectively, and are similar to 2-3 times faster than those solely due to increasing atmospheric CO2. We attributed the rapid acidification to the increased dissolved inorganic carbon owing to a combination of ice melt-induced increased atmospheric CO2 invasion and subsurface remineralization induced by a stronger surface biological production as a result of the increased inflow of the nutrient-rich Pacific water.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap -- Oceanografi, hydrologi och vattenresurser (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences -- Oceanography, Hydrology and Water Resources (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap -- Miljövetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences -- Environmental Sciences (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

ocean acidification

Arctic Chukchi sea

anthropogenic forcing

biological carbon recycling

co2 uptake capacity

ocean acidification

surface ocean

aragonite

undersaturation

dissociation-constants

north pacific

gas-exchange

seawater

ice

saturation

Geology

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)