Spatial and temporal variability of air-sea CO2 exchange of alongshore waters in summer near Barrow, Alaska

Abstract

Alongshore water off Barrow, Alaska is a useful area for studying the carbon cycle of the Arctic coastal sea, because the different coastal characteristics extant in the area likely represent much larger regions of the coastal water of the western Arctic Ocean. Especially noteworthy is the inflow shelf water transferred northward by the Arctic Coastal Current into the Chukchi Sea from the North Pacific and turbid water in the Elson Lagoon where a significant amount of coastal erosion has been reported along the extensive coastal line and where a part of the water from the lagoon drains into the Beaufort Sea adjacent to the Chukchi Sea. To investigate spatial and temporal variations of air-sea CO2 flux (CO2 flux) of the alongshore water, partial pressure of CO2 of surface seawater (pCO2sw) was measured in summer, 2007 and 2008, and CO2 flux was directly measured by eddy covariance at a fixed point for the Beaufort Sea in summer 2008. Measured pCO2sw in the Chukchi Sea side was the lowest in the beginning of the measurement season and increased later in the season both in 2007 and 2008. The average CO2 flux estimated based on pCO2sw in the Chukchi Sea side was −0.10 μmol m−2 s−1 (±0.1 s.d.) using the sign convention of positive fluxes into the atmosphere from the ocean. pCO2sw in the Beaufort Sea and the Elson Lagoon was relatively higher in early summer and decreased in the middle of the summer. The overall average CO2 flux was −0.07 μmol m−2 s−1 (±0.1 s.d.) for the Beaufort Sea side and −0.03 μmol m−2 s−1 (±0.07 s.d.) for the Elson Lagoon respectively, indicating a sink of CO2 despite high carbon inflows from the terrestrial margin into the Elson Lagoon. A strong sink of CO2 was often observed from the Beaufort Sea by eddy covariance in the middle of the summer. This sink activity in the middle summer in the Beaufort Sea and Elson Lagoon was likely due to biological carbon uptake as inferred by low apparent oxygen utilization and high chlorophyll concentration that offset a potential source of CO2 due to terrestrial carbon inputs.