Conférence David Kieber

Conférence le 9 juin à 11h à l'amphithéâtre

David J. KIEBER

Department of Chemistry, State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY

Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Loss of Refractory Marine Dissolved Organic Matter


The oceans hold a massive quantity of organic carbon that is greater than all terrestrial organic carbon biomass combined. Nearly all marine organic carbon is dissolved and more than 95% is refractory, cycling through the oceans several times before complete removal.  The vast reservoir of refractory dissolved organic carbon (RDOC) is a critical component of the global carbon cycle that is relevant to our understanding of fundamental marine biogeochemical processes and the role of the oceans in climate change with respect to long-term storage and sequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide.  Here, we show that deep-ocean organic matter that is primarily composed of RDOC has surface-active properties, and (2) primary marine aerosol produced by bursting bubbles at the sea surface are highly enriched in marine organic matter including RDOC.  We propose that this process will deliver RDOC from the sea surface to the atmosphere wherein its photochemical oxidation corresponds to a potentially important and hitherto unknown removal mechanism for oceanic RDOC.

Homepage:

http://www.esf.edu/chemistry/kieber/kieber.htm