A Model Evaluation of Biological Effects on Seasonal Variation of Air–Sea CO2 Flux in the Yellow and East China Seas

Abstract

ABSTRACTBased on a coupled physical-biogeochemical model of the Yellow and East China Seas (YECS), the influence of biological activity on the seasonal variation of the air–sea CO2 flux is evaluated. The solution of a sensitivity experiment that excludes biological activity is compared with that of a reference experiment that includes the full processes. The comparison reveals that biological activity results in a much stronger seasonal variation of surface dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and, hence, the ratio of total alkalinity to DIC in the northern parts of the YECS. The increased ratio resulting from biological DIC consumption contributes to the undersaturated partial pressure of CO2 at the sea surface with respect to the atmosphere, causing the central Yellow Sea in summer and autumn to shift from being a CO2 source to a sink; this same shift also occurs over the Changjiang Bank in summer. In the southern YECS, the biological effect is relatively weak. The comparison further reveals that low water temperature, instead of biological activity, is the dominant factor causing the YECS to become a carbon sink in spring. The biological effect on the variation of DIC (both at the surface and in the water column) differs greatly among the three representative regions of the YECS because of differences in primary production and hydrodynamic conditions. Particle-tracking simulations quantify the regional difference in horizontal advection. In the northern region, weaker horizontal advection causes the longer residence time of low DIC water induced by biological consumption. Over the entire YECS, biological activity contributes to about one-third of the total annual absorption of atmospheric CO2.