Standard Presentation 2024 Australian Marine Sciences Association Annual Meeting combined with NZMSS

Carbon export in the subantarctic zone revealed by multi-year observations from biogeochemical-Argo floats and sediment traps (#114)

Xiang Yang 1 2 , Cathryn Wynn-Edwards 1 3 , Pete Strutton 2 4 , Elizabeth Shadwick 1 3
  1. Australian Antarctic Program Partnership, hobart, TAS, Australia
  2. IMAS, Hobart, TAS, Australia
  3. CSIRO, hobart, TAS, Australia
  4. Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science, hobart, TAS, Australia

The biological gravitational pump (BGP) and particle injection pumps (PIPs) are significant export pathways for particulate organic carbon to the interior ocean. Part of this exported carbon fuels remineralization in the mesopelagic ocean and part is sequestered in the deep ocean. The seasonality and magnitude of both pathways, and their contribution to carbon export are different. Using observations from BGC-Argo floats, we characterized the BGP and two PIPs: the mixed layer pump (MLP) and eddy subduction pump (ESP), in the Australian sector of the Subantarctic Zone (SAZ). Float-based estimates were combined with sediment trap flux (FPOC) observations from the SOTS mooring, to investigate the carbon export contributions of these pumps. This analysis represents the first rigorous comparison of float- and mooring-based export calculations. The BGP exports ~37.65 gC m-2 y-1, particularly during the productive season, and dominates the FPOC seasonality. The MLP exports ~12.35 gC m-2 y-1, mostly while the mixing layer shoals seasonally. The ESP exports sporadically and depends on eddies. The carbon transfer efficiency is about 2% in the SOTS region. This is representative of the SAZ sector in terms of the carbon export magnitude and seasonality, the carbon consumption in the mesopelagic zone, and the carbon sequestration.