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General Session 2: Marine & estuarine biogeochemistry |
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Wind-induced variations of water surface carbon dioxide across the middle Chesapeake Bay
GS2-13
Wei-Jen Huang* , National Sun Yat-sen University
Wei-Jun Cai, University of Delaware
Xiaohui Xie, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
Ming Li, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
Presenter Email: wjhuang29@mail.nsysu.edu.tw
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| Carbon dioxide (CO2) is an important greenhouse gas and its important role in the estuary, river, and bay has been noticed in the past few years. Previous estuarine studies generally focused on CO2 variations along the main channel and cross-bay variations are usually neglected. In this study, we surveyed a region across the middle Chesapeake Bay and repeatedly measured surface partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) for nine successive tries across this region. The observed pCO2 values were generally oversaturation with respect to the atmosphere (likely from respiration in the bottom water) and were higher than estimated conservative mixing values (between river and sea endmembers). These pCO2 values showed clear cross-bay variations over time, that is, over-saturation were observed to the eastern shore on the fourth try but became under-saturation on the ninth try. Upcoast wind and corresponding upwelling to the eastern shore were observed on the first several tries and were weaken in later tries. Through spatial analysis, we further observed pCO2 near the shores were higher than the center of the bay. A conceptual model includes wind forcing, mixing layer depth, respiration rate, and other factors is used to explain our measurements. Finally, we suggest that the period of upcoast wind forcing could affect the degree of this source of CO2 to the atmosphere in this bay. |
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