Thompson/Ocean 558/Atmos 559/Spring 2008 Ocean biogeochemical modeling 1

Ocean Biogeochemical models

Ocean biogeochemical models are developed to estimate the uptake of anthrpogenic

carbon by the oceans, and how ocean ecosystems may evolved under different climate
conditions. External input for biogeochemical constituents come from both the
atmospheres and from rivers. The first ocean biogeochemical models implemented a
representation of the carbon cycle and its chemistry in ocean general circulation models.
The model currency was P and the C/P ratio (from Redfield ratios) and atmospheric CO2
concentration were prescribed. Simultaneously, models with much more explicit biology
were being developed for local and regional applications: these more commonly used N as
a currency. These are sometimes called ‘geochemical’ and ‘ecological’ approaches. In the
lecture, I will describe one of each of these approaches.

In summary, variations in DIC (dissolved organic carbon) can come about from three
things

1. Temperature dependent solubility and dissociation in sea water (solubility pump).

2. Photosynthesis and respiration.
3. Calcium carbonate precipitation and dissolution

Carbon chemistry

Carbon dioxide is soluble in water, but it reacts with water to form a balance of several
species (defined as DIC)

!!
CO2aq + H 2O # !
" H 2CO3 #
! !!!
" HCO3$ + H + #
! !!!
" CO32 $ + H +
!
The different constituents are:
!"CO2aq #$ = [ CO2 ] + [ H 2CO3 ] Aqueous Carbon Dioxide
H 2CO3 Carbonic Acid
HCO3! Bicarbonate
CO32 ! Carbonate
where

DIC (or TIC, Total Inorganic Carbon) is defined by

[ DIC ] = !"CO2* #$ + !" HCO3% #$ + !"CO32 % #$
The other two carbon system parameters are pH and pCO2 (the partial pressure of CO2)

The total alkalinity is approximately

TALK = "# HCO3! $% + 2 "#CO32 ! $%

Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis converts inorganic carbon to organic carbon. Respiration converts organic
carbon to inorganic carbon
Thompson/Ocean 558/Atmos 559/Spring 2008 Ocean biogeochemical modeling 2

!!!!!
CO2 + H 2O # !!!! " CH 2O + O2
photosynthesis
!
respiration

Calcium Carbonate
!!!!
CaCO3 + CO2 + H 2O # !!!
dissolution
!" 2HCO3$ + Ca 2 +
precipitation

Photosynthesis causes DIC to decrease, CH2O to increase, O2 to increase and does not
change alkalinity.

Photosynthesis causes DIC to increase, CH2O to decrease, O2 to decrease and does not
change alkalinity.

Production of Calcium carbonate causes DIC to decrease, and alkalinity to decrease

Dissolution of Calcium carbonate causes DIC to increase, and alkalinity to increase

Other issues in biogeochemical models,

Iron limitation

Iron is thought to be a limiting nutrient in HNLC region. Iron is thought to come from
atmospheric deposition (via dust). However, not all of the iron in dust is available for
phytoplankton to use

Dust deposition (g/m2/d)

x Fe fraction (g/g)
x Fe fractional solubility (n.d.)
/ Fe mol wt. (g/mol)
/ MLD (m)

= ‘new’ iron (mol/m3/d)

To get from dust to dissolved Fe, the big uncertainty is in the fractional solubility: most of
the iron never gets into the dissolved pool, but models can be very sensitive to differences
of e.g. 2 vs. 10%.

The Ocean Carbon-Cycle Model Intercomparison Project (OCMIP)

The OCMIP project was primarily an intercomparison of ocean circulation models used
for biogeochemical applications. This protocol includes: carbon chemistry, gas exchange,
biology, with atmospheric CO2 boundary condition standardized. It is P based (no
external sources or sinks) with no explicit biology: simple relaxation to climatology
giving the export of carbon from the surface layer.

There are five variables in the model

1. Inorganic phosphous (PO4)
2. DOP Dissolved organic phorporus
Thompson/Ocean 558/Atmos 559/Spring 2008 Ocean biogeochemical modeling 3

3. DIC
4. Alkalinity
5. Oxygen

I will not go through all of the details of the model here, but will instead focus on how
biological production is linked to the carbonate system and how DIC would be affected by
it.

The key to linking the chemical and models is the link between the uptake of inorganic
phosphorus (PO4) and biological production. For the OCMIP models that do not have
prognostic biology, we assume that the production of organic material is given by the
uptake of nutrients needed to match the observed surface nutrients
1
( )
J prod = [PO4] " PO4]* for Z<Zc when [PO4] > [PO4]* and zero otherwise. Zc is the
!
compensation depth, about the depth of the euphotic zone. Here [PO4]* is the observed
phosphate distribution.

The production of DOP is given by

J DOP = ! J prod " # [DOP]
When inorganic phosphorus is converted to organic matter, some of that matter is
dissolved (the first term on the RHS). Some of the DOP chemically converts to PO4
Thompson/Ocean 558/Atmos 559/Spring 2008 Ocean biogeochemical modeling 4

which is given by the second term on the RHS.

The corresponding source/sink equation for PO4 in the euphotic zone (for Z<Zc) will be
given by
J PO 4 = !" J prod + # [DOP]

However, the rest of the organic matter is in particulate form and is assumed to sink.
After it sinks, some it is remineralized back into PO4. The amount of sinking material is
given by
Zc
Fc = (1 ! " ) # J prod dz
0
The depth dependence of the particulate flux on depth is given by
'a
! Z$
F(Z ) = Fc # & for Z>Zc
" Zc %
So the source term for PO4 for Z>Zc will be given by
dF
J PO 4 = ! + " [DOP]
dz

So how about carbon? Given the formulation, you can find carbon [DIC] from Redfield
ratios.
J DIC = rC :P J prod .

This model is written with phosphate as the currency. However, when there is nutrient
limitation, nitrogen fixation, the Redfield ratios may not hold. In that case, carbon, iron,
silica, nitrogen and phosphorus will all need to be followed independently for each species
(phytoplankton or zooplankton) that is carried in the ecosystem model.