Annual cyclicity in export efficiency in the inner Southern California Bight

Abstract

AbstractThe balance of marine autotrophy and heterotrophy regulates the ocean's ability to serve as a CO2 sink, as organic material produced by autotrophs sinks into the ocean interior to drive the biological pump. Marine ecosystems over the continental margins, especially coastal upwelling regions, account for a disproportionate amount of carbon export; thus, even small fluctuations in export in these regions can have a large impact on the global carbon cycle. In this study, we estimated the rate of gross oxygen production (GOP), stoichiometrically related to gross primary production, by combining measurements of the triple isotope composition of dissolved oxygen with estimates of vertical advection, eddy diffusion, and air‐sea gas exchange in a one‐dimensional two‐box nonsteady state model of the euphotic zone. Net oxygen production (NOP) estimates based on O2/Ar were then combined with GOP to estimate the NOP/GOP ratio, or potential export efficiency, out of the euphotic zone at the San Pedro Ocean Time‐series during an 18 month period between January 2013 and June 2014. GOP estimates ranged from 161 ± 44 to 477 ± 155 mmol m−2 d−1 during this period, peaking in May each year, and NOP/GOP ratios ranged from 0.05 ± 0.10 to 0.65 ± 0.28. The highest export efficiency occurred in late February/early March, following the onset of spring upwelling, declining as the upwelling season continued. This study demonstrates that export efficiency changes through time in this temperate coastal upwelling region on a repeated annual cycle, and the magnitude of export efficiency suggests efficient photosynthetic energy conversion by phytoplankton in spring.