Abstract
The Southern Ocean, being a major sink of CO2, has a crucial role in mediating the global climate. Moreover, this ocean plays an equally important role in the budget of oxygen in the World Ocean. It is one of two major areas where downwelling of cold and oxygen-saturated waters transports oxygen to the deepest layers of the ocean. Thus, the dynamics of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the surface waters of the Southern Ocean is one of the most important issues for the global and regional marine biogeochemistry and climatology. In this work, we study pCO2 and oxygen distributions and their dynamics as well as key processes controlling their spatial variation in the basin of the Weddell-Scotia Confluence Zone including the Antarctic Sound, Powell Basin, and Bransfield Strait, which is the convergence zone of the Weddell-Scotia seas. Data was collected during cruise 79 of the R/V “Akademik Mstislav Keldysh” in the austral summer of 2020.
It was found that the Powell Basin and the Bransfield Strait reveal mainly pCO2 undersaturation and O2 oversaturation. This is an evidence for active photosynthesis as a controlling process, and high nutrient concentrations support it. However, the Antarctic Sound waters are CO2 oversaturated and O2 depleted. They are the source of CO2 for the atmosphere. These features provide evidence for recent and ongoing prevailing processes of destruction of organic carbon accompanied by oxygen consumption and CO2 production, while primary production processes remain inactive in this area.
Based on oxygen and pCO2 dynamics, we have identified three end-members, which are very likely determined by the origin of the water masses and biogeochemical processes.
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Acknowledgments
The work was supported by the state assignments of FRC MHI # 0555-2019-0003 “Experimental studies of the variability of hydrophysical, hydrochemical and bio-optical fields at different spatial and temporal scales to identify the features of climatic changes in oceanographic conditions in the Atlantic Antarctic” and # 0827-2019-0003 “Fundamental studies of oceanological processes that determine the state and evolution of the marine environment under the influence of natural and anthropogenic factors, based on observation and modeling methods.”
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Orekhova, N.A., Vidnichuk, A.V., Konovalov, S.K. (2021). Features and Processes of the Oxygen and pCO2 Dynamics in the Surface Waters in the Western Parts of the Weddell and Scotia Seas (Southern Ocean). In: Morozov, E.G., Flint, M.V., Spiridonov, V.A. (eds) Antarctic Peninsula Region of the Southern Ocean. Advances in Polar Ecology, vol 6. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78927-5_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78927-5_12
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