The Carbon budget of the North Sea

[en] A carbon budget has been established for the North Sea, a shelf sea on the NW European continental shelf. The carbon exchange fluxes with the North Atlantic Ocean dominate the gross carbon budget. The net carbon budget – more relevant to the issue of the contribution of the coastal ocean to the marine carbon cycle – is dominated by the carbon inputs from rivers, the Baltic Sea and the atmosphere. The North Sea acts as a sink for organic carbon and thus can be characterised as a heterotrophic system. The dominant carbon sink is the final export to the North Atlantic Ocean. More than 90% of the CO2 taken up from the atmosphere is exported to the North Atlantic Ocean making the North Sea a highly efficient continental shelf pump for carbon.

Disciplines :

Aquatic sciences & oceanology

Author, co-author :

Thomas, H.; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Océanographie chimique

Bozec, Y.

de Baar, Hein J. W.

Elkalay, K.

Frankignoulle, Michel

Schiettecatte, L. S.

Borges, Alberto

Language :

English

Title :

The Carbon budget of the North Sea

Publication date :

2005

Journal title :

Biogeosciences

ISSN :

1726-4170

eISSN :

1726-4189

Publisher :

European Geosciences Union, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany

Volume :

Issue :

Pages :

87-96

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Available on ORBi :

since 01 December 2008

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64 (7 by ULiège)

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Scopus citations^®

118

Scopus citations^®
without self-citations

OpenCitations

129

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