OCE-PRF: The Biogeochemical Importance of Marine Particles: Connecting Production and Export in the Northern Gulf of Alaska

生物碳泵通过隔离深海沃茨中的有机颗粒来缓冲大气中的二氧化碳浓度。同时，生物碳泵为阴阳魔界生态系统提供食物，因为下沉的颗粒被摄入。虽然生物碳泵由许多不同的过程组成，但当前项目的重点是颗粒的物理传输及其转化。海洋微粒主要是通过海洋阳光层内的生物和物理过程形成的。然后，物理运输可以将它们带到深海。即使经过几十年的研究，估计有多少材料被运输仍然在很大程度上未知。这种不确定性对我们预测地球系统如何变化是一个挑战。事实上，海洋变化（2015）确定了“海洋在调节碳循环中的作用是什么？”以及“如何更好地量化向深海排放碳的效率？”作为2015-2025年的优先科学问题。这项研究旨在提高高纬度沿海地区的数据覆盖率，同时开发建模工具，以提高我们对颗粒产生，运输和衰变方面的生态和物理过程的估计和理解。虽然全球和区域碳预算已经开发和完善了超过50年的研究，这些综合之间的分歧（+/- 50%）仍然是更广泛的海洋学界的挫折和研究的根源。为了减少目前估计的生物碳泵在高纬度沿海生物群落的不确定性，我们建议调查海洋营养吸收，颗粒生产和出口过程之间的机械关系，通过结合实地工作（3个巡航yr-1），数据分析，和跨站点的合作。这项工作的核心将涉及新数据集的收集和整合，包括（1）现存量和示踪剂：生物硅，（2）生产力：二氧化硅生产和营养吸收，以及（3）出口：碳，氮，生物硅，微量元素和同位素，通过拉格朗日示踪剂模拟，线性逆生态系统建模和地球化学参数估计进行合成。这项工作的地理重点将是在阿拉斯加的北方海湾，那里的物理循环和强烈的季节性驱动在一个重要的商业和生计渔业的区域生态系统过程的高度可变性。最后，致力于标准化方法和在NSF长期生态研究站点之间的合作将有助于开发数据集和沿海出口产品的相互比较。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

The biological carbon pump buffers carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere by sequestering organic particles in deep ocean waters. Simultaneously the biological carbon pump supplies food to twilight zone ecosystems as sinking particles are ingested. Although the biological carbon pump consists of many different processes, the focus of the current project is on physical transport of particles and their transformations. Marine particles are primarily formed through biological and physical processes within the ocean’s sun-lit layer. Physical transport can then carry them in to the deep ocean. Even after decades of research, estimates of how much material is transported remains largely unknown. This uncertainty is a challenge to our predictions of how the Earth system is changing. Indeed, Sea Change (2015) identifies “What is the ocean’s role in regulating the carbon cycle?” and how might “the efficiency of carbon export to the deep ocean be better quantified?” as priority science questions for 2015-2025. This study seeks to improve data coverage in a high latitude coastal region while developing modeling tools to improve our local estimates and understanding of ecological and physical processes with respect to particle production, transport, and decay.While global and regional carbon budgets have been developed and refined over more than 5 decards of research, disagreement between these synthesis (+/- 50%) continues to be a source of frustration and research within the broader oceanographic community. To reduce uncertainty in current estimates of the biological carbon pump within a high latitude coastal biome, we propose to investigate the mechanistic relationships between marine nutrient uptake, particle production, and export processes through a combination of field work (3 cruises yr-1), data analysis, and cross-site collaboration. The core of this effort will involve the collection and integration of new datasets, including (1) standing stocks and tracers: biogenic silica, (2) productivity: silica production and nutrient uptake, and (3) export: carbon, nitrogen, biogenic silica, trace elements, and isotopes, with synthesis via Lagrangian tracer simulations, linear inverse ecosystem modeling, and biogeochemical parameter estimation. The geographical focus of this work will be in the Northern Gulf of Alaska where physical circulation and strong seasonality drive high variability in ecosystem processes in a region important for commercial and subsistence fisheries. Finally, efforts to standardize methods and collaborate across NSF Long Term Ecological Research sites will help to develop datasets and inter-comparisons of coastal export production.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.