Autonomous Observations of the Ocean Biological Carbon Pump

Abstract

Autonomous Observations of the Ocean Biological Carbon Pump Carbon Flux Explorer at Dawn w R/V Sproul in the San Clemente Basin. James K. B. Bishop 1,2 1. Professor Marine Science, Department of Earth and Planetary Science, U.C. Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94720-4767; jkbishop@berkeley.edu; 2. Faculty Senior Scientist, Earth Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720-0001 Abstract Prediction of the substantial biologically mediated carbon flows in a rapidly changing and acidifying ocean requires model simulations informed by observations of key carbon cycle processes on the appropriate space and time scales. From 2000 to 2004, the National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP) supported the development of the first low-cost fully-autonomous ocean profiling Carbon Explorers that demonstrated that year-round real-time observations of particulate organic carbon (POC) concentration and sedimentation could be achieved in the world's ocean. NOPP also initiated the development of a sensor for particulate inorganic carbon (PIC) suitable for operational deployment across all oceanographic platforms. As a result, PIC profile characterization that once required shipboard sample collection and shipboard or shore based laboratory analysis, is now possible to full ocean depth in real time using a 0.2W sensor operating at 24 Hz. NOPP developments further spawned US DOE support to develop the Carbon Flux Explorer, a free-vehicle capable of following hourly variations of particulate inorganic and organic carbon sedimentation from near surface to kilometer depths for seasons to years and capable of relaying contemporaneous observations via satellite.