Nature – Stukel et al. (2023): Carbon sequestration by multiple biological pump pathways in a coastal upwelling biome
Michael R. Stukel, John P. Irving, Thomas B. Kelly, Mark D. Ohman, Christian K. Fender, Natalia Yingling IN: Nat Commun 14, 2024 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-37771-8
The authors quantify carbon export and sequestration in the California Current Ecosystem resulting from (1) sinking particles, (2) active transport by diel vertical migration, and (3) the physical pump (subduction + vertical mixing of particles). The authors find that sinking particles are the most important and export 9.0 mmol C m−2 d−1 across 100-m depth while sequestering 3.9 Pg C. The physical pump exports more carbon from the shallow ocean than active transport (3.8 vs. 2.9 mmol C m−2 d−1), although active transport sequesters more carbon (1.0 vs. 0.8 Pg C) because of deeper remineralization depths.