A Lagrangian perspective reveals the carbon and oxygen budget of an oceanic eddy
Quantifying the ocean's ability to sequester atmospheric carbon is essential in a climate change context. Measurements of gravitational carbon export to the mesopelagic seldom balance the carbon demand or the oxygen consumption there, suggesting the potential presence of other mechanisms of carbon export. We deployed a biogeochemical Argo float in a cyclone in the Benguela upwelling system for five months, and estimated vertical carbon export and respiration in the eddy via particle imagery with an underwater vision profiler 6 in a quasi Lagrangian way. A sensitivity analysis shows that, under certain assumptions, oxygen consumption rates could match the carbon supply and carbon demand. We furthermore identified a mechanism of vertical particulate carbon export, the full eddy core submergence pump. Our analysis suggests that at 450 m depth, within this eddy, this pump exports about one fourth to half of the total carbon compared to the biological gravitational pump.
Authors
- Lars Stemmann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8935-4531)
- Artemis Ioannou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0055-4981)
- C. Catalano
- Antoine Poteau (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0519-5180)
- Alberto Baudena (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8890-4324)
- Marc Picheral (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8172-5473)
- Rémi Laxenaire (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5157-1821)
- Rainer Kiko (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7851-9107)
- Sabrina Speich (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5452-8287)
- Édouard Leymarie (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9705-407X)
Institutions
- Florida State University (US)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (FR)
- École Normale Supérieure - PSL (FR)
- GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (DE)
- Sorbonne Université (FR)
- Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique (FR)
- Météo-France (FR)
- Istituto di Scienze Marine del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (IT)
- Laboratoire de l'Atmosphère et des Cyclones (RE)
- Laboratoire d’Océanographie de Villefranche (FR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Communications Earth & Environment
- Published
- 2025-04-24
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02262-9
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Oceanographic and Atmospheric Processes
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.79
Funders
- UK Research and Innovation
- European Commission
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche
- HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme