Time-series and Underway Assessments of Ocean Acidification and Carbon System Properties in Coastal Waters

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1 NGI Annual Meeting 2012 Time-series and Underway Assessments of Ocean Acidification and Carbon System Properties in Coastal Waters Wei-Jun Cai, Xinping Hu, Scott Noakes, Joe Salisbury, Doug Vandemark, Robert Byrne 1 UMASS Dartmouth 2 University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee

2 Acknowledgements This project has been supported by funding from NOAA through the Northern Gulf Institute (Award# / Task Order 14) with additional support from NASA (Award# NNX10AU06G). The project supports goals of the NACP and OCB programs

3 Overview Introduction Atmospheric carbon dioxide and ocean acidification Project Goals Approach/Results Coastal MS and Gulf of Mexico (USM, UGA) Gray s Reef/South Atlantic Bight (UGA) Gulf of Maine (UNH) Underway pco 2 (USF, NOAA) New Opportunities GOMECC-2 Waveglider Education and Outreach Summary

4 Introduction Atmospheric CO2 levels continue to rise as a result of fossil fuel emissions:

5 Introduction Uptake of CO 2 by the ocean represents a significant sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide, but also alters ocean chemistry, reducing ph (increasing acidity)

6 The Carbon Cycle Interplay of Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Geology Photosynthesis

7 Project Goals The principal goals for the NOAA Ocean and Great Lakes Acidification Research Implementation Plan are to: develop the monitoring capacity to quantify and track ocean acidification in open-ocean, coastal, and Great Lake systems; assess the response of marine and freshwater organisms to ocean and lake acidification; forecast biogeochemical and ecological responses to acidification; provide a synthesis of ocean and Great Lake acidification data and information that aids in development of tools for managing coastal, open ocean, and Great Lakes ecosystems and preparing human communities for potential OA-related changes; and provide information about ocean acidification to educators and develop materials for public outreach. This project involves a close collaboration with NOAA scientists to provide information critical to NOAA s mission and global concerns regarding ocean acidification and its impacts on ecosystems.

8 Approach/Results Monitoring sites in Gulf and off East Coast provide a range of sites for comparison Northern Gulf site leverages an IOOS/GCOOS/CenGOOS buoy Gray s Reef site leverages a NOAA/NDBC buoy Gulf of Maine leverages an IOOS/NERACOOS/UNH buoy

9 Approach NOAA/PMEL System MAPCO2 SAMI ph SeaBird MicroCat Optode Oxygen Sensor

10 Gulf of Maine

11 Gulf of Maine ph pco Aug Sep Sep Oct-06 9-Nov Nov Dec-06 8-Jan

12 Gray s Reef (SAB) Seasonal pco 2, but not all variability tied to SST Low pco 2 in winter months and high in summer

13 Gray s Reef (SAB) Validation 600 mooring underway TA/DIC R/V Nancy Foster xco R/V Ron Brown 300 R/V Savannah 07/06 01/07 07/07 01/08 07/08 01/09 07/09 01/10 07/10 01/11 Time

14 Rapid increases in pco2 from inshore to mid-shelf in South Atlantic Bight Cai, 2005 unpublished Mar Apr May 2005 Jun Jul

15 CenGOOS Buoy in the Mississippi Bight with NOAA CO 2 /ph/do System NOAA CO2 System

16 CenGOOS System & Total Surface Currents May 20, :00 UTC

17 NGI: Monitoring and Assessment of Coastal and Marine Ecosystems in the Northern Gulf ( ) Continuous Profiles CTD (SBE49) Dissolved Oxygen (SBE43) Absorption/Attenuatio n meter ac9 Backscattering BB9 Chlorophyll, CDOM, Phycoeythrin fluoresence (FL3) Discrete Samples Trace Metals Salinity Dissolved Oxygen SPM NUTS CDOM Pigments Phytoplankton Abundance

18 Mississippi Gulf Coast Time-series off Mississippi Gulf Coast show higher pco 2 values in late summer and fall and low in spring

19 Mississippi Gulf Coast Relationship to salinity Salinity /15/2011 5/1/2011 5/15/2011 Date

20 River Input Affects LSU Earth Scan Laboratory Bonnet Carre Spillway. Opened May 9, 2011

21 GulfCarbon pco 2 Huang, Cai et al.

22 Satellite-derived pco 2 Net sink inshore in June and net source offshore Source in Sep

23 CenGOOS Site an Oceanic Sink Most of the Year Braatz, 2011

24 USF Underway Measurements Multi-Parameter Inorganic Carbon Analyzer (MICA) DIC TA ph pco 2 Ships of Opportunity GOMECC-2

25 Gulf of Mexico and East Coast Carbon Cruise (GOMECC) R/V Ronald H. Brown, RB July 4 August, 2007 Galveston, TX Boston, MA USA Chief Scientists: Tsung-Hung Peng and Chris Langdon NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory

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27 CO 2 Waveglider Northern Gulf Pilot Project NGI/USM, NOAA AOML, Liquid Robotics

28 NOAA/PMEL Utilizing Wave Gliders for Ocean CO 2 and Acidification Monitoring Waveglider surfboard Waveglider tethered subsurface Waveglider instrument package

29 Education and Outreach Andrea Braatz MS USM 2011 Climate Change Community Outreach Initiative 29- September, 2011, Institute of Marine Mammals, Gulfport, MS. Sponsored by NOAA Education Office For Middle School Science Teachers.

30 Summary This project provides time-series observations of coastal ocean ph and carbon system properties in various coastal regions in support of NOAA goals The northern Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic Bight regions are commonly influenced by one contiguous western boundary current system, which originates with the Loop Current in the Gulf of Mexico and then becomes the Gulf Stream along the southeastern U.S. continental shelf The Gulf Coast site is strongly influenced by freshwater discharge, while the SAB and Gulf of Maine sites show strong seasonal patterns Work is ongoing to examine relationship of carbon dioxide and ph to environmental forcings