Publication Date:
2017-07-11
Description:
Future climate warming of the Arctic could potentially enhance the load of riverine dissolved organic carbon (RDOC) of Arctic rivers due to increased carbon mobilization within watersheds. A greater flux of RDOC might thus impact the biogeochemical processes of the coastal Arctic Ocean (AO). In this study, we show that estimates of RDOC concentrations in the surface waters of the Canadian Beaufort Sea computed for 2003–2011 by both optical remote sensing and a physical-biogeochemical coupled model compare favorably. Our results suggest that, over spring-summer, RDOC contributes to 35 % of primary production and that an equivalent of ~ 10 % of the riverine RDOC is exported westwards with a potential for fueling the biological production of the eastern Alaskan nearshore waters. The combination of model and satellite data can be extended to the entire AO to quantify the expected changes in RDOC fluxes and their potential impact on AO biogeochemistry. This is left for future work.
Print ISSN:
1810-6277
Electronic ISSN:
1810-6285
Topics:
Biology
,
Geosciences