Project: Collaborative Research: Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Recycling of Refractory Dissolved Organic Carbon in Seawater

The oceans hold a massive quantity of organic carbon that is greater than all terrestrial organic carbon biomass combined. Nearly all marine organic carbon is dissolved and more than 95% is refractory, and cycled through the oceans several times before complete removal. Refractory dissolved organic carbon (RDOC) concentrations are uniform with depth in the water column and represent the "background" carbon present throughout the oceans. However, very little is known regarding RDOC production and removal processes. One potential removal pathway is through adsorption of RDOC onto surfaces of rising bubbles produced by breaking waves and ejection via bubble bursting into the atmosphere. Building on prior research, the investigators will evaluate the importance of ocean- atmosphere processing in recycling marine RDOC during a research cruise in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean. Results of the research will provide important insights regarding the coupled ocean-atmosphere loss of RDOC, thereby improving understanding of and ability to predict the role of RDOC in oceanic and atmospheric biogeochemistry, the global carbon cycle, and Earth's climate. The research will involve three early career faculty, and will provide training for undergraduate and graduate researchers.

Recent results based on a limited set of observations indicate that the organic matter (OM) associated with primary marine aerosol (PMA) produced by bursting bubbles from breaking waves at the sea surface is comprised partly to wholly of RDOC rather than OM of recent biological origin as has been widely assumed. The injection of RDOC into the atmosphere in association with PMA and its subsequent photochemical oxidation is a potentially important and hitherto unrecognized sink for RDOC in the oceans of sufficient magnitude to close the marine carbon budget and help resolve a long-standing conundrum regarding removal mechanisms for marine RDOC. This project will involve a shipboard investigation and modeling study to (1) quantify the relative contributions of marine refractory dissolved organic carbon (RDOC) to primary marine aerosol organic matter (PMA OM) produced from near-surface seawater in biologically productive and oligotrophic regions and from North Atlantic Deep Water, and to (2) determine the importance of atmospheric photochemical processing as a recycling pathway for RDOC. To test these hypotheses, a high-capacity aerosol generator will be deployed at four hydrographic stations in the NW Atlantic Ocean to characterize (1) the natural abundance of 14C in PMA and in surface and deep seawater; (2) the surface tension and physical properties of bubble plumes; (3) size-resolved production fluxes, chemical composition, organic carbon enrichments, spectral absorbance, and photochemical evolution of PMA; and (4) the carbon content, optical properties, and physical properties of seawater. The importance of RDOC recycling via PMA production and photochemical evolution will be interpreted with model calculations.

EN589 Cruise Track