9726091 Hansell In this study, researcher at the Bermuda Biological Station will perform empirical analyses of the principal processes that control the partitioning of carbon in the surface layer of the ocean in order to improve model parameterizations of the oceanic carbon cycle. Specific processes to be evaluated included the export of carbon from the surface layer as particulate organic and inorganic carbon, the production and accumulation of organic carbon in the surface layer, and the air-sea exchange of carbon dioxide. The analytical approach taken will be largely one of mass balance of carbon and nitrogen in the upper layer of the ocean. Carbon partitioning at US JGOFS process and time-series sites will be studied in the early phase of the project, while extrapolation of the findings at the JGOFS sites to the ocean basin and global scale will take place in the later phase of the project. In the latter analysis, data from the Global CO2 survey and the NOAA OACES lines will be used to investigate basin wide expressions of carbon partitioning. The work will lead to significant improvements in the oceanographic community's modeling of the marine carbon cycle.
