Coastal waters are already experiencing episodic exposure to carbonate conditions that were not expected until the end of the century making understanding the response to these episodic events as important as understanding the long-term mean response. Among the most striking examples are those associated with coastal upwelling along the west coast of the US, where the pH of surface waters may drop to 7.6 and pCO2 can reach 1100 uatm. Upwelling systems are responsible for a significant fraction of global carbon export making them prime targets for investigations on how ocean acidification is already affecting the biological pump today.
In this study, researchers at the University of California at Santa Barbara will investigate the potential effects of ocean acidification on the strength of the biological pump under the transient increases in CO2 experienced due to upwelling. Increases in CO2 are expected to alter the path and processing of carbon through marine food webs thereby strengthening the biological pump. Increases in inorganic carbon without proportional increases in nutrients result in carbon over-consumption by phytoplankton. How carbon over-consumption affects the strength of the biological pump will depend on the fate of the extra carbon that is either incorporated into phytoplankton cells forming particulate organic matter (POM), or is excreted as dissolved organic matter (DOM). Results from mesocosm experiments demonstrate that the mechanisms controlling the partitioning of fixed carbon between the particulate and dissolved phases, and the processing of those materials, are obscured when both processes operate simultaneously under natural or semi-natural conditions. Here, POM and DOM production and the heterotrophic processing of these materials will be separated experimentally across a range of CO2 concentrations by conducting basic laboratory culture experiments. In this way the mechanisms whereby elevated CO2 alters the flow of carbon along these paths can be elucidated and better understood for use in mechanistic forecasting models.
Broader Impacts- The need to understand the effects of ocean acidification for the future of society is clear. In addition to research education, both formal and informal, will be important for informing the public. Within this project 1-2 graduate students and 2-3 minority students will be recruited as interns from the CAMP program (California Alliance for Minority Participation). Within the 'Ocean to Classrooms' program run by outreach personnel from UCSB's Marine Science Institute an educational unit for K-12 students will be developed. Advice and support is also given to the Education Coordinator of NOAA, Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary for the development of an education unit on ocean acidification.
