Kaoru Kubota

Larger CO2 source at the equatorial Pacific during the last deglaciation

While biogeochemical and physical processes in the Southern Ocean are thought to be central to atmospheric CO2 rise during the last deglaciation, the role of the equatorial Pacific, where the largest CO2 source exists at present, remains largely unconstrained. Here we present seawater pH and pCO2 variations from fossil Porites corals in the mid equatorial Pacific offshore Tahiti based on a newly calibrated boron isotope paleo-pH proxy. Our new data, together with recalibrated existing data, indicate that a significant pCO2 increase (pH decrease), accompanied by anomalously large marine 14C reservoir ages, occurred following not only the Younger Dryas, but also Heinrich Stadial 1. These findings indicate an expanded zone of equatorial upwelling and resultant CO2 emission, which may be derived from higher subsurface dissolved inorganic carbon concentration.

A new method for calibrating a boron isotope paleo‐pH proxy using massive Porites corals

The boron isotope ratio (δ11B) of marine biogenic carbonates can reconstruct pH and pCO2 of seawater, and potentially CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. To date, δ11B-pHSW calibration has been proposed via culturing experiments, where calcifying organisms are cultured under artificially acidified seawater. However, in scleractinian corals, reconstructed pH values using culture-based calibrations do not agree well with actual observations of seawater CO2 chemistry. Thus, another approach is needed to establish a more reliable calibration method. In this study, we established field-based calibrations for Chichijima and Tahiti, both located in subtropical gyres where surface seawater is close to CO2 equilibrium. We suggest a new approach to calibration of δ11B-pH in which the long-term δ11B variation of massive Porites corals is compared with the decreasing pH trend (i.e., ocean acidification) that has occurred since the Industrial Revolution. This calibration will offer a new avenue for studying seawater CO2 chemistry using coral δ11B in diverse settings, such as upwelling regions, coral reefs, and coastal areas.

Rapid decline in pH of coral calcification fluid due to incorporation of anthropogenic CO 2

Marine calcifying organisms, such as stony corals, are under threat by rapid ocean acidification (OA) arising from the oceanic uptake of anthropogenic CO2. To better understand how organisms and ecosystems will adapt to or be damaged by the resulting environmental changes, field observations are crucial. Here, we show clear evidence, based on boron isotopic ratio (δ11B) measurements, that OA is affecting the pH of the calcification fluid (pHCF) in Porites corals within the western North Pacific Subtropical Gyre at two separate locations, Chichijima Island (Ogasawara Archipelago) and Kikaijima Island. Corals from each location have displayed a rapid decline in δ11B since 1960. A comparison with the pH of the ambient seawater (pHSW) near these islands, estimated from a large number of shipboard measurements of seawater CO2 chemistry and atmospheric CO2, indicates that pHCF is sensitive to changes in pHSW. This suggests that the calcification fluid of corals will become less supersaturated with respect to aragonite by the middle of this century (pHCF = ~8.3 when pHSW = ~8.0 in 2050), earlier than previously expected, despite the pHCF-upregulating mechanism of corals.

Stimpson's hard clam Mercenaria stimpsoni; A multi-decadal climate recorder for the northwest Pacific coast

A sclerochronological and radiocarbon-based study of life history traits of Stimpsons hard clam (Mercenaria stimpsoni), collected alive from Funakoshi Bay, northeast Japan, showed the lifespan of the species to be at least 92 years (determined from annual growth line counts). Three M. stimpsoni specimens exhibited the following synchronous growth pattern, suggestive of environmental control; annual increment width increasing after 1955 to a maximum value between 1970 and 1980, subsequently decreasing gradually until 2000, and thereafter remaining constant or increasing slightly. Variations on annual growth patterns, as well as standardized growth indices chronology, were relatively closely linked to the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), but less so to Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). Carbonate samples collected from ontogenetically younger shell portions, estimated from growth line counts to have been deposited before 1950, contained no nuclear bomb-test radiocarbon, thereby supporting the accuracy of annual growth line counts (versus overcounting from ventral margin). Together with the synchronous annual increment width patterns, this indicated that age and annual growth rate estimations for M. stimpsoni based on growth line counts were reliable and applicable to high-resolution sclerochronological analyses, which should contribute to a deeper understanding of multi-decadal northwest Pacific climate variability.