Wentao Ma

X-ray fluorescence core scanning records of chemical weathering and monsoon evolution over the past 5 Myr in the southern South China Sea

with benthic foraminiferal d 18 O reveal that phases of the East Asian summer monsoon abruptly changed by more than 90° at 4.0 Ma, 2.75 Ma, 1.0 Ma and 0.6 Ma relative to global ice volume at the obliquity and the precession bands over the past 5 Myr. Strong 400 kyr and 100 kyr cycles in the K/Al and Ti/Al records consistently exist over the past 5 Myr. Particularly, these cycles are highly coherent with the long and short eccentricity cycles in the truncated insolation at 65°N, indicating an eccentricity forcing of the East Asian summer monsoon. The chemical weathering recorded in the elemental records of ODP Site 1143 also shows highly coherent relationship with the ocean carbon reservoir at the eccentricity, the obliquity and the precession bands over the late Pliocene and Pleistocene.

Simulation of export production and biological pump structure in the South China Sea

The export flux of particulate organic carbon (POC) consumes upwelled dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), which hinders surplus CO2 being released to the atmosphere. The export flux of POC is therefore crucial to the carbon and biogeochemical cycles. This study aims to model the long-term (1958–2009) variation of export flux and structure of the biological pump in the South China Sea (SCS) using a three-dimensional physical-biogeochemical coupled (ROMS-CoSiNE) model. The modeled POC export flux in the northeastern and north central SCS is high in winter and low in summer, whereas the flux in the central, southwestern and southern SCS varies following a “W” shape: two maxima in winter and summer, and two minima in spring and autumn. The pattern follows the variation of the East Asian monsoon and is consistent with observations. On the interannual scale, export flux is anti-phased with the El Niño-Southern Oscillation such that El Niño (La Niña) conditions correspond to low (high) export flux. Modeled annual mean POC export flux reaches up to 1.95 mmol m–2 day–1, which is underestimated comparing with field observations. The f-ratio is estimated to be ~0.4. The b value of the Martin equation for POC is 1.18±0.03. Remineralization rate of POC is greater than the classical Martin equation but is consistent with its subtropical counterparts. The modeled results indicate that the SCS is a weak source of atmospheric CO2 with a flux estimated at 1.0 mmol m–2 day–1. The modeled results provide an insight of the temporal and spatial variability of the carbon cycle in this monsoon-driven, semi-enclosed basin.

Modeling the contribution of dissolved organic carbon to carbon sequestration during the last glacial maximum

Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is a carbon reservoir that is as large as the atmospheric CO2 pool, and its contribution to the global carbon cycle is gaining attention. As DOC is a dissolved tracer, its distribution can serve to trace the mixing of water masses and the pathways of ocean circulation. Published proxy and model reconstructions have revealed that, during the last glacial maximum (LGM), the pattern of deep ocean circulation differed from that of the modern ocean, whereby additional carbon is assumed to have been sequestered in stratified LGM deep water. The aim of this study is to explore the distribution of DOC and its production/removal rate during the LGM using the Grid ENabled Integrated Earth system model (GENIE). Modeled results reveal that increased salinity of bottom waters in the Southern Ocean is associated with stronger stratification and oxygen depletion. The stratified LGM deep ocean traps more nutrients, resulting in a decrease in the DOC reservoir size that, in turn, causes a negative feedback for carbon sequestration. This finding requires an increase in DOC lifetime to compensate for the negative feedback. The upper limit of DOC lifetime is assumed to be 20,000 years. Modeled results derive an increase (decrease) in DOC reservoir by 100 Pg C leading to an atmospheric CO2 decrease (increase) of 9.1 ppm and a dissolved inorganic carbon δ13C increase (decrease) of 0.06‰. The DOC removal rate is estimated to be 39.5 Tg C year–1 in the deep sea during the LGM. The contribution of DOC to the LGM carbon cycle elucidates potential carbon sink-increasing strategies.