Diurnal changes in seawater carbonate chemistry speciation at increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide.

ABSTRACT: Natural variability in seawater pH and associated carbonate chemistry parameters is in part driven by biological activities such as photosynthesis and respiration. The amplitude of these variations is expected to increase with increasing seawater carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentrations in the future, because of simultaneously decreasing buffer capacity. Here, we address this experimentally during a diurnal cycle in a mesocosm CO₂ perturbation study. We show that for about the same amount of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) utilized in net community production diel variability in proton (H⁺) and CO₂ concentrations was almost three times higher at CO₂ levels of about 675 ± 65 in comparison with levels of 310 ± 30 μatm. With a simple model, a

SUBMITTER: Schulz KG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3873061 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature