Applications

Carbon cycle (global climate)

The flux of CO2 across the air-sea interface is an important element of global climate change models. The increase in ocean acidity related to an increase in CO2 dissolved in seawater poses a threat to the existence of certain marine organisms. In situ measurements and modelling are in progress to quantify air-sea CO2 fluxes at the scale of the Belgian continental shelf and the Southern North Sea. To complement these studies, algorithms are being developed to use

• satellite chlorophyll a data,
• satellite Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and
• modelled/climatological sea surface salinity (SSS) distributions

to generate maps of partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) and air-CO2 fluxes . In the open ocean this approach has to some extent been successful, but greater challenges are expected in coastal waters with more complex optical properties and higher temporal and spatial variability of pCO2. In a study by Borges et al. (2008) dissolved organic carbon (DIC) data was used to deduce net ecosystem production in Belgian waters and satellite chlorophyll a data was used to explain the observed temporal variability in DIC and pCO2.