"Organic Carbon Budget for the Upper Slope of the Middle Atlantic Bight"

研究人员将为一个国家建立一个碳预算， 中大西洋湾的上斜坡区。 先前 该地区的研究得出了一个有争议的假设，即 植物生产力中的有机碳出口 大陆边是一个主要的通道， 从大气层到深海的二氧化碳。源项为 有机碳预算将由大量的 初级生产力和沉积物收集器通量测量， 在美国能源部资助的Shelf-Edge Exchange研究中获得 流程. 这项工作将包括独立的方法， 评价有机碳矿化速率， 以及有机碳埋藏速率。 本研究中确定的碳通量将有助于解决 关于全球二氧化碳循环的重要性的争议 边际有机碳向深海的迁移 并将进一步提供以下之间的定量关系： 有机碳通量与底栖生态系统能量 要求.

The investigators will construct a carbon budget for an upper slope region of the Middle Atlantic Bight. Previous studies in this region led to the controversial hypothesis that export of organic carbon from plant productivity from continental margins represents a major pathway for transfer of CO2 from the atmosphere to the deep ocean. The source term for the organic carbon budget will be provided by a large number of primary productivity and sediment trap flux measurements to be obtained during a DOE-funded study of Shelf-Edge Exchange Processes. This work will include independent approaches to evaluate the rate of organic carbon remineralization at the upper slope as well as the rate of organic carbon burial. Carbon fluxes determined in this study will help resolve the controversy regarding the importance to the global CO2 cycle of the transport of margin-derived organic carbon to the deep sea and will further provide a quantitative relationship between organic carbon fluxes and benthic ecosystem energy requirements.