Abstract. The climate active trace-gas carbonyl sulfide (OCS) is the most abundant sulfur gas in the atmosphere. A missing source in its atmospheric budget is currently suggested, resulting from an upward revision of the vegetation sink. Tropical oceanic emissions have been proposed to close the resulting gap in the atmospheric budget. We present a bottom-up approach including (i) new observations of OCS in surface waters of the tropical Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans and (ii) a further improved global box model to show that direct OCS emissions are unlikely to account for the missing source. The box model suggests an undersaturation of the surface water with respect to OCS integrated over the entire tropical ocean area and, further, global annual direct emissions of OCS well below that suggested by top-down estimates. In addition, we discuss the potential of indirect emission from CS 2 and dimethylsulfide (DMS) to account for the gap in the atmospheric budget. This bottom-up estimate of oceanic emissions has implications for using OCS as a proxy for global terrestrial CO 2 uptake, which is currently impeded by the inadequate quantification of atmospheric OCS sources and sinks.
Abstract. In this study the technique of Differential OpticalAbsorption Spectroscopy (DOAS) has been adapted for the retrieval of the absorption and biomass of two major phytoplankton groups (PhytoDOAS) from data of the Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Chartography (SCIAMACHY) satellite sensor. SCIAMACHY measures back scattered solar radiation in the UV-Vis-NIR spectral regions with a high spectral resolution (0.2 to 1.5 nm). In order to identify phytoplankton absorption characteristics in the SCIAMACHY data in the range of 430 to 500 nm, phytoplankton absorption spectra measured in-situ during two different RV "Polarstern" expeditions were used. The two spectra have been measured in different ocean regions where different phytoplankton groups (cyanobacteria and diatoms) dominated the phytoplankton composition. Results clearly show distinct absorption characteristics of the two phytoplankton groups in the SCIAMACHY spectra. Using these results in addition to calculations of the light penetration depth derived from DOAS retrievals of the inelastic scattering (developed by Vountas et al., 2007), globally distributed pigment concentrations for these characteristic phytoplankton groups for two monthly periods (FebruaryMarch 2004 and October-November 2005) were determined. This satellite information on cyanobacteria and diatoms distribution clearly matches the concentrations based on high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) pigment analysis of collocated water samples and concentrations derived from a Correspondence to: A. Bracher (astrid.bracher@awi.de) global model analysis with the NASA Ocean Biogeochemical Model (Gregg et al., 2003;Gregg and Casey 2007). The quantitative assessment of the distribution of key phytoplankton groups from space enables various biogeochemical regions to be distinguished and will be of great importance for the global modeling of marine ecosystems and biogeochemical cycles which enables the impact of climate change in the oceanic biosphere to be estimated.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.