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Carbonate Chemistry Dynamics of Surface Waters in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

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Abstract

This paper presents the results of two cruises in the Northern Gulf of Mexico in 2008 that investigated local and short-term factors influencing the carbonate chemistry dynamics and saturation state with respect to aragonite (Ωaragonite) of surface seawater in this region. One cruise covered much of the northern half of the Gulf, and the other focused on the coastal zone west of the Atchafalaya Bay outlet of the Mississippi River—the region where the hypoxic “dead zone” occurs on the Louisiana shelf. Offshore waters (>100 m depth) exhibited only small variations in CO2 fugacity (fCO2), total alkalinity (TA) and Ωaragonite. Values were close to those typically observed in subtropical Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea waters of similar salinity. However, inner shelf waters (<50 m depth) exhibited large variations in fCO2, TA, and Ωaragonite that were not directly related to salinity or distance from the Mississippi River plume. Changes in TA values were not the result of simple mixing of end-member freshwater and seawater TA concentrations but exhibited a minimum in values near salinity of 25. This minimum could be the result of microbial recycling across salinity gradients, biological removal of alkalinity by formation of calcium carbonate or mixing of a third end-member with a low alkalinity such as Terrebonne Bay. All waters were supersaturated with respect to aragonite. Offshore waters had an average Ωaragonite of 3.86 with a standard deviation of only ±0.06 and inner shelf waters had a range in Ωaragonite values from 3.9 to 9.7 with a median of 4.3. Shelf water Ωaragonite values were elevated relative to the offshore as a consequence of both high TA input from Mississippi River and biological drawdown of CO2. A dominant factor controlling Ωaragonite distribution in offshore waters with relatively constant temperatures was fCO2, with higher supersaturation occurring in areas with low fCO2.

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Acknowledgments

The data were obtained as part of the NASA-ROSES effort, Ocean Acidification in the Greater Caribbean (Grant Award Number NNX08AW98G). The program managers Paula Bontempi and Fred Lipschultz are acknowledged for their support. Support was also provided by the Louis and Elizabeth Scherck Endowed Chair (JWM). This research was carried out [in part] under the auspices of the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS), a Cooperative Institute of the University of Miami and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, cooperative agreement #NA17RJ1226. We wish to acknowledge Luz Romero for her support in analysis. We thank the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments. Prof. John Morse who passed away prior to publication of this work was instrumental in coordinating and spearheading the project. His enthusiasm, insights, and dedication to the study of carbon dynamics of aquatic systems will be greatly missed.

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  1. Nina Keul

    Present address: Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Am Handelshafen 12, 27570, Bremerhaven, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Oceanography, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA

    Nina Keul, John W. Morse & Thomas S. Bianchi

  2. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, 4301 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, FL, 33149, USA

    Rik Wanninkhof & Dwight K. Gledhill

  3. Cooperative Institute of Marine and Atmospheric Studies, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, FL, 33149, USA

    Dwight K. Gledhill

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  1. Nina Keul
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Correspondence to Nina Keul.

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Keul, N., Morse, J.W., Wanninkhof, R. et al. Carbonate Chemistry Dynamics of Surface Waters in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. Aquat Geochem 16, 337–351 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10498-010-9091-2

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