School of Marine Science and Policy, College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment, University of Delaware, 111 Robinson Hall, Newark, DE, 19716, USA.
NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, 7600 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA, 98115, USA.
Nat Commun. 2020 Jun 1;11(1):2691. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-16530-z.
Syntheses of carbonate chemistry spatial patterns are important for predicting ocean acidification impacts, but are lacking in coastal oceans. Here, we show that along the North American Atlantic and Gulf coasts the meridional distributions of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and carbonate mineral saturation state (Ω) are controlled by partial equilibrium with the atmosphere resulting in relatively low DIC and high Ω in warm southern waters and the opposite in cold northern waters. However, pH and the partial pressure of CO (pCO) do not exhibit a simple spatial pattern and are controlled by local physical and net biological processes which impede equilibrium with the atmosphere. Along the Pacific coast, upwelling brings subsurface waters with low Ω and pH to the surface where net biological production works to raise their values. Different temperature sensitivities of carbonate properties and different timescales of influencing processes lead to contrasting property distributions within and among margins.
碳酸化学空间格局的综合对于预测海洋酸化的影响非常重要，但在沿海海域却缺乏这种综合。在这里，我们表明，在北美大西洋和墨西哥湾沿岸，溶解无机碳（DIC）和碳酸盐矿物饱和度（Ω）的经向分布受与大气的部分平衡控制，导致南部温暖水域的 DIC 相对较低，Ω 较高，而北部寒冷水域则相反。然而，pH 值和二氧化碳分压（pCO）并没有表现出简单的空间格局，而是受到当地物理和净生物过程的控制，这些过程阻碍了与大气的平衡。在太平洋沿岸，上升流将具有低 Ω 和 pH 值的次表层水带到表面，净生物生产努力提高它们的值。碳酸盐性质的温度敏感性不同，以及影响过程的时间尺度不同，导致了内部和各边缘之间性质分布的对比。
