OCE-PRF: What controls the fate of biogenic particulate carbon in the ocean's twilight zone? Global-scale insights from data-constrained models

该奖项全部或部分由《2021年美国救援计划法案》（公法117-2）资助。该奖学金项目将解决关于海洋碳循环的两个基本问题：(1)是什么控制了颗粒有机碳（POC）通过中远洋带（100-1000米）的转移效率；(2)是什么导致了浅水柱（1000米深）碳酸钙（CaCO3）的溶解？我们评估气候变化对海洋-大气二氧化碳（CO2）平衡影响的能力需要对垂直POC输送的预测性理解，而对浅水CaCO3溶解的机理理解则需要更好地预测海洋酸化的未来状态。这两个关键问题将在拟议的项目中通过开发可预测的、可用的模型来解决，这些模型包括被认为控制生物源POC和CaCO3垂直渗透到海洋内部的主要物理和生物地球化学过程。拟议活动产生的所有模型和模型输出将通过BCO-DMO提供给任何希望与他们合作的研究者。这些公开可用的模型将使海洋生物地球化学界能够调查海洋碳封存将如何随着气候变化而变化。拟议项目的总体目标是将生物源粒子运输，转化和去除过程的影响纳入适合在中等复杂性的地球系统模型中实施的机械建模框架中。模型开发的重点将放在处理未解决的过程上，包括浮游动物介导的颗粒破碎。协同方法结合了预测海洋生物地球化学模型、数据约束的海洋环流逆模型和新的观测数据来源，为模型公式和模型公式本身提供了概念框架。野外数据、生物地球化学Argo项目提供的生物地球化学观测数据、全球海洋船舶水文调查项目提供的海洋碳数据、全球海洋数据分析项目和世界海洋地图集数据产品得出的POC通量和POC浓度剖面将为中远洋区潜在的颗粒动力学提供基本约束。由提议的活动产生的模型可以应用于重要的科学问题，例如了解气候变化中的海洋碳固存。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并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，被认为值得支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).This fellowship project will address two fundamental questions about the ocean’s carbon cycle: (1) what controls the efficiency of particulate organic carbon (POC) transfer through the mesopelagic zone (100–1000 m), and (2) what causes shallow water column (1000 m depth) calcium carbonate (CaCO3) dissolution? Our ability to assess the impact of climate change on the ocean-atmosphere carbon dioxide (CO2) balance requires a predictive understanding of vertical POC transport, whereas a mechanistic understanding of shallow-water CaCO3 dissolution is needed to better predict the future state of ocean acidification. These two key issues will be addressed in the proposed project via the development of predictive, usable models that include the main physical and biogeochemical processes thought to control the vertical penetration of biogenic POC and CaCO3 into the ocean interior. All models and model output resulting from the proposed activity will be made available to any investigator who wishes to work with them through BCO-DMO. The publicly available models will allow the ocean biogeochemistry community to investigate how oceanic carbon sequestration will change in response to climate change.The overarching goal of the proposed project is to incorporate the effects of biogenic particle transport, transformation and removal processes into a mechanistic modeling framework that is suitable for implementation in Earth System models of intermediate complexity. The focus of model development will be on the treatment of unresolved processes including zooplankton-mediated particle breakup. The synergistic approach combines prognostic ocean biogeochemical models, data-constrained ocean circulation inverse models, and new sources of observational data to provide both the conceptual frameworks for model formulations and the model formulations themselves. POC flux and POC concentration profiles derived from field data, biogeochemical observations made available by the Biogeochemical Argo program, ocean carbon data from the Global Ocean Ship-Based Hydrographic Investigations Program, and Global Ocean Data Analysis Project and World Ocean Atlas data products will provide essential constraints on the underlying particle dynamics of the mesopelagic zone. The models resulting from the proposed activity can be applied to important scientific questions such as understanding oceanic carbon sequestration in a changing climate.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.