Abstracts
SEARCH Open Science Meeting
October 27, 2003
Seattle, Washington, USA
Missing Organic Carbon in the Coastal Kara Sea: Is Coastal Erosion a Significant Source?
Rainer MW Amon1, Benedikt Meon2
1Marine Science, Texas A&M at Galveston, 5007 Avenue U, Galveston, TX, 77551, USA, Phone 409-740-4719, Fax 409-740-4787, amonr@tamug.edu
2Biological Oceanography, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Columbusstrasse, Bremerhaven, 27515, Germany, Phone 49-471-483-1146, Fax 49-471-483-1142, bmeon@awi-bremerhaven.de
Studies of growth and respiration of heterotrophic bacteria in the southern Kara Sea have revealed depth integrated carbon demand values barely matched by primary production. At the same time we found that the riverine dissolved organic matter is largely refractory to bacterial uptake only making a minor contribution to the bacterial carbon demand. Due to the extreme seasonality of river discharge and our limited understanding of biological processes in the area it is not possible to come up with reliable carbon budgets. One of the missing pieces of information is the amount and character of particulate and dissolved organic carbon introduced to the system by coastal erosion. Organic matter trapped in permafrost is expected to be bioavailable and could contribute a significant amount of labile dissolved organic carbon to the Kara Sea system during the summer season. A focused study looking at the chemical composition and bioavailability of dissolved and particulate organic matter trapped along the coast would evaluate the fate of eroded materials in coastal Arctic systems.
Abstract Categories: Coastal Processes
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