Gulf of Mexico and East Coast Carbon Cruise
July 10, 2007
Chris Fairall of the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory, Physical Sciences Division (PSD) is collaborating with the University of Colorado (Detlev Helmig) and Columbia University (Wade McGillis) to perform research on direct measurements of air-sea gas transfer forcing and measurements of CO2 and ozone flux by eddy correlation. These measurements will be taken by PSD's William Otto as part of the Gulf of Mexico and East Coast Carbon Cruise (GEOMECC) aboard the NOAA ship RONALD H. BROWN. The cruise will operate in the Gulf of Mexico and Eastern Coast of the U.S. starting in Galveston, TX on July 10, and ending in Boston, MA on August 4, and is a comprehensive survey of inorganic carbon, nutrients and other biogeochemical parameters.
Background:
The GEOMECC research cruise is being
implemented in support of the North American Carbon Program (NACP) and is
supported by the NOAA/OAR and the NOAA GCC (Global Carbon Cycle) programs.
The major objective is the determination of air-sea carbon dioxide fluxes
in North American coastal regions. The NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and
Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) is the lead institution for the cruise.
Nine U.S. universities are also participating.
Significance:
The global carbon budget is a key
factor in the rate of increase of CO2 in the atmosphere and subsequent
effects on the Earth's temperature. The oceans are estimated to take up
about 30% of the carbon emitted by fossil fuel burning, but the processes
that control that uptake are still poorly understood. Air-sea gas transfer
is a critical component in the overall budget. The coastal oceans are
hypothesized to be more intense consumers of atmospheric CO2 but there is
little observational evidence to support this. The PSD study will increase
our understanding of the controls of air-sea fluxes of atmospheric trace
gases in particular that of carbon dioxide (CO2).
| Contact: Christopher Fairall | More Information: |