Dissolved Organic Carbon in Coastal Waters: Global Patterns, Stocks and Environmental Physical Controls
Abstract Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in coastal waters is integral to biogeochemical cycling, but global and regional drivers of DOC are still uncertain. In this study we explored spatial and temporal differences in DOC concentrations and stocks across the global coastal ocean, and how these relate to temperature and salinity. We estimated a global median coastal DOC stock of 3.15 Pg C (interquartile range (IQR) = 0.85 Pg C), with median DOC concentrations being 2.2 times higher than in open ocean surface waters. Globally and seasonally, salinity was the main driver of DOC with concentrations correlated negatively with salinity, without a clear relationship to temperature. DOC concentrations and stocks varied with region and season and this pattern is likely driven by riverine inputs of DOC and nutrients that stimulate coastal phytoplankton production. Temporally, high DOC concentrations occurred mainly in months with high freshwater input, with some exceptions such as in Eastern Boundary Current margins where peaks are related to primary production stimulated by nutrients upwelled from the adjacent ocean. No spatial trend between DOC and temperature was apparent, but many regions (19 out of 25) had aligned peaks of seasonal temperature and DOC, related to increased phytoplankton production and vertical stratification at high temperatures. Links of coastal DOC with salinity and temperature highlight the potential for anthropogenic impacts to alter coastal DOC concentration and composition, and thereby ecosystem status.
Authors
- Renee K. Gruber (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8788-6910)
- Valentina Amaral (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1088-1484)
- Hyekyung Park (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4743-5883)
- Xosé Anxelu G. Morán (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9823-5339)
- Valeria Ibello (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1067-0425)
- Michele Giani (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3306-7725)
- Nicholas Ward (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6174-5581)
- Punyasloke Bhadury (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8714-7475)
- Digna Rueda‐Roa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4621-009X)
- Christian Lønborg (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8380-0238)
- E. Elena García‐Martín (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4807-3287)
- María Ll. Calleja (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5992-2013)
- Eva Teira (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4333-0101)
- Helena Osterholz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2858-9799)
- Johnna M. Holding (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7364-0055)
- Mariana B. Bif (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2148-4556)
- Qi Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8320-5997)
- Patrick Martin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8008-5558)
- Rafael Gonçalves‐Araujo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8344-8326)
- Qiang Zheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6836-2310)
- Youhei Yamashita (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9415-8743)
- Luiz C. Cotovicz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3914-8155)
- Dennis A. Hansell (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9275-3445)
- J. Severino P. Ibánhez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6093-3054)
- Paolo Magni (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5955-6829)
- S. Leigh McCallister (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9041-9512)
- Xosé Antón Álvarez‐Salgado (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2387-9201)
- Piotr Kowalczuk (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6016-0610)
- William Ross Hunter (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8801-7947)
- Liyang Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8767-8698)
- Cátia Carreira (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1520-9320)
- Bradley D. Eyre (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5502-0680)
- Isabel Fuentes‐Santos (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3298-9648)
- Stefano Cozzi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0116-742X)
- Joanne M. Oakes
- Shan Jiang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1121-6080)
- Federica Maggioni (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7109-4257)
- Javier Arı́stegui (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7526-7741)
Institutions
- University of New Caledonia (NC)
- Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ES)
- Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata (IN)
- Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (US)
- Australian Institute of Marine Science (AU)
- Seoul National University (KR)
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (US)
- University of Miami (US)
- Nanyang Technological University (SG)
- Universidad de la República de Uruguay (UY)
- Virginia Commonwealth University (US)
- Xiamen University (CN)
- National Oceanography Centre (GB)
- Middle East Technical University (TR)
- Aarhus University (DK)
- Hokkaido University (JP)
- Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (DE)
- Instituto Español de Oceanografía (ES)
- Istituto Centrale per la Ricerca Scientifica e Tecnologica Applicata al Mare (IT)
- Instituto de Investigacións Mariñas (ES)
- Istituto di Scienze Marine del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (IT)
- Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies (ES)
- Fondazione Centro Marino Internazionale (IT)
- Instytut Oceanologii Polskiej Akademii Nauk (PL)
- Agri Food and Biosciences Institute (GB)
- Écologie Marine Tropicale des Océans Pacifique et Indien (RE)
- National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics (IT)
- Institute for the Study of Anthropic Impact and Sustainability in the Marine Environment (IT)
- Universidade Federal do Paraná (BR)
- UCSI University (MY)
- University of Aveiro (PT)
- Universidade de Vigo (ES)
- Southern Cross University (AU)
- East China Normal University (CN)
- King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (SA)
- University of South Florida St. Petersburg (US)
- Fuzhou University (CN)
- College of Marin (US)
- Technical University of Denmark (DK)
- Polish Academy of Sciences (PL)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Global Biogeochemical Cycles
- Published
- 2025-05-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1029/2024gb008407
- Citations
- 5
- Primary Topic
- Marine and coastal ecosystems
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 8.97
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- U.S. Department of Energy
- Aarhus Universitets Forskningsfond
- State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science
- Natural Environment Research Council
- Australian Research Council