Processes of Carbon Dioxide Flux in the Fanning Island Lagoon

dc.contributor.author Smith, S.V. en_US
dc.contributor.author Pesret, F. en_US
dc.date.accessioned 2008-03-20T23:58:20Z
dc.date.available 2008-03-20T23:58:20Z
dc.date.issued 1974-07 en_US
dc.description.abstract Carbon dioxide follows a variety of transfer pathways through marine systems, and a budget of CO2 can be used to enumerate those pathways. In a coral reef system, the biogeochemical pathways of organic carbon production-consumption and calcification are likely to be prominent. We measured the temperature, salinity, pH, and total alkalinity of about 400 water samples to describe the CO2 budget of the lagoon at Fanning Island, Line Islands, during July and August 1972. Mean lagoon salinity was about 31.5 %, or 3.3 % below the open ocean salinity there, as a result of heavy rainfall and groundwater seepage. This salinity depression, together with data on rainfall and tides, was used to calculate a mean lagoon water residence time of about 1 month. The CO2 budget of the lagoon water can be described in terms of processes altering the ocean water composition. Gas exchange accounted for a netCO2 evasion of less than 1.4 moles m-2 month-1. Freshwater dilution lowered the CO2 content by about 0.5 moles m-2 month-1. Calcification lowered CO2 by 0.9 moles m-2 month-1; and CO2 changes attributable to organic carbon transfer lay between - 0.1 and +1.3 moles m-2 month-1. Net organic carbon transfer in the lagoon is near zero, suggesting a close balance between organic carbon production and consumption. Calcification is about 1 kg CaCO3 m-2 yr-1 , much lower than the rate which can be estimated from the standing crop and expected growth rate of corals there. It seems possible that the CO2 system of Fanning Lagoon, and perhaps that of other coral reefs as well, may be potentially limiting to biological activity. en_US
dc.identifier.citation Smith SV, Pesret F. 1974. Processes of carbon dioxide flux in the Fanning Island Lagoon. Pac Sci 28(3): 225-245. en_US
dc.identifier.issn 0030-8870 en_US
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/10125/896
dc.language.iso en-US en_US
dc.publisher University of Hawai'i Press en_US
dc.title Processes of Carbon Dioxide Flux in the Fanning Island Lagoon en_US
dc.type Article en_US
dc.type.dcmi Text en_US
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