This open access book discusses biogeochemical processes relevant to carbon and aims to provide readers, graduate students and researchers, with insight into the functioning of marine ecosystems. A carbon centric approach has been adopted, but other elements are included where relevant or needed. The book focuses on concepts and quantitative understanding of primary production, organic matter mineralization and sediment biogeochemistry. The impact of biogeochemical processes on inorganic carbon dynamics and organic matter transformation are also discussed.

Marine dissolved organic matter (DOM) is a complex mixture of molecules found throughout the world's oceans. It plays a key role in the export, distribution, and sequestration of carbon in the oceanic water column, posited to be a source of atmospheric climate regulation. Biogeochemistry of Marine Dissolved Organic Matter, Second Edition, focuses on the chemical constituents of DOM and its biogeochemical, biological, and ecological significance in the global ocean, and provides a single, unique source for the references, information, and informed judgments of the community of marine biogeochemists. Presented by some of the world's leading scientists, this revised edition reports on the major advances in this area and includes new chapters covering the role of DOM in ancient ocean carbon cycles, the long term stability of marine DOM, the biophysical dynamics of DOM, fluvial DOM qualities and fate, and the Mediterranean Sea. Biogeochemistry of Marine Dissolved Organic Matter, Second Edition, is an extremely useful resource that helps people interested in the largest pool of active carbon on the planet (DOC) get a firm grounding on the general paradigms and many of the relevant references on this topic. - Features up-to-date knowledge of DOM, including five new chapters - The only published work to synthesize recent research on dissolved organic carbon in the Mediterranean Sea - Includes chapters that address inputs from freshwater terrestrial DOM

Oceans account for 50% of the anthropogenic CO2 released into the atmosphere. During the past 15 years an international programme, the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS), has been studying the ocean carbon cycle to quantify and model the biological and physical processes whereby CO2 is pumped from the ocean's surface to the depths of the ocean, where it can remain for hundreds of years. This project is one of the largest multi-disciplinary studies of the oceans ever carried out and this book synthesises the results. It covers all aspects of the topic ranging from air-sea exchange with CO2, the role of physical mixing, the uptake of CO2 by marine algae, the fluxes of carbon and nitrogen through the marine food chain to the subsequent export of carbon to the depths of the ocean. Special emphasis is laid on predicting future climatic change.

Ocean Biogeochemical Dynamics provides a broad theoretical framework upon which graduate students and upper-level undergraduates can formulate an understanding of the processes that control the mean concentration and distribution of biologically utilized elements and compounds in the ocean. Though it is written as a textbook, it will also be of interest to more advanced scientists as a wide-ranging synthesis of our present understanding of ocean biogeochemical processes. The first two chapters of the book provide an introductory overview of biogeochemical and physical oceanography. The next four chapters concentrate on processes at the air-sea interface, the production of organic matter in the upper ocean, the remineralization of organic matter in the water column, and the processing of organic matter in the sediments. The focus of these chapters is on analyzing the cycles of organic carbon, oxygen, and nutrients. The next three chapters round out the authors' coverage of ocean biogeochemical cycles with discussions of silica, dissolved inorganic carbon and alkalinity, and CaCO3. The final chapter discusses applications of ocean biogeochemistry to our understanding of the role of the ocean carbon cycle in interannual to decadal variability, paleoclimatology, and the anthropogenic carbon budget. The problem sets included at the end of each chapter encourage students to ask critical questions in this exciting new field. While much of the approach is mathematical, the math is at a level that should be accessible to students with a year or two of college level mathematics and/or physics.

This Volume belongs to a series on Oceanography. It is designed so that it can be read on its own, or used as a supplement in oceanogrphy courses. After a brief introduction to sea-floor sediments, the book shows how the activities of marine organisms cycle nutrients and other dissolved constituents within the oceans, and influence the rates at which both solid and dissolved material is removed to sediments. It goes on to review the carbonate system and shows how sediments that come from continental areas may be transported to the deep sea, explores what sea-floor sediments have taught us about the history of the oceans, and describes the biological and chemical processes that continue long after sediments have been deposited on the deep sea-floor. * Covers the basics on the occurrence, distribution, and cycling of chemical elements in the ocean * Features full-color photographs and beautiful illustrations throughout * Reader-friendly layout, writing, and graphics * Pedagogy includes chapter summaries, chapter questions with answers and comments at the end of the book; highlighted key terms; and boxed topics and explanations * Can be used alone, as a supplement, or in combination with other Open University titles in oceanography

This textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate students presents a multidisciplinary approach to understanding ocean circulation and how it drives and controls marine biogeochemistry and biological productivity at a global scale. Background chapters on ocean physics, chemistry and biology provide students with the tools to examine the range of large-scale physical and dynamic phenomena that control the ocean carbon cycle and its interaction with the atmosphere. Throughout the text observational data is integrated with basic physical theory to address cutting-edge research questions in ocean biogeochemistry. Simple theoretical models, data plots and schematic illustrations summarise key results and connect the physical theory to real observations. Advanced mathematics is provided in boxes and appendices where it can be drawn on to assist with the worked examples and homework exercises available online. Further reading lists for each chapter and a comprehensive glossary provide students and instructors with a complete learning package.

Explores how the management of wetlands can influence carbon storage and fluxes. Wetlands are vital natural assets, including their ability to take-up atmospheric carbon and restrict subsequent carbon loss to facilitate long-term storage. They can be deliberately managed to provide a natural solution to mitigate climate change, as well as to help offset direct losses of wetlands from various land-use changes and natural drivers. Wetland Carbon and Environmental Management presents a collection of wetland research studies from around the world to demonstrate how environmental management can improve carbon sequestration while enhancing wetland health and function. Volume highlights include: Overview of carbon storage in the landscape Introduction to wetland management practices Comparisons of natural, managed, and converted wetlands Impact of wetland management on carbon storage or loss Techniques for scientific assessment of wetland carbon processes Case studies covering tropical, coastal, inland, and northern wetlands Primer for carbon offset trading programs and how wetlands might contribute The American Geophysical Union promotes discovery in Earth and space science for the benefit of humanity.Its publications disseminate scientific knowledge and provide resources for researchers, students, and professionals.

Our desire to understand the global carbon cycle and its link to the climate system represents a huge challenge. These overarching questions have driven a great deal of scientific endeavour in recent years: What are the basic oceanic mechanisms which control the oceanic carbon reservoirs and the partitioning of carbon between ocean and atmosphere? How do these mechanisms depend on the state of the climate system and how does the carbon cycle feed back on climate? What is the current rate at which fossil fuel carbon dioxide is absorbed by the oceans and how might this change in the future? To begin to answer these questions we must first understand the distribution of carbon in the ocean, its partitioning between different ocean reservoirs (the "solubility" and "biological" pumps of carbon), the mechanisms controlling these reservoirs, and the relationship of the significant physical and biological processes to the physical environment. The recent surveys from the JGOFS and WOCE (Joint Global Ocean Flux Study and World Ocean Circulation Ex periment) programs have given us a first truly global survey of the physical and biogeochemical properties of the ocean. These new, high quality data provide the opportunity to better quantify the present oceans reservoirs of carbon and the changes due to fossil fuel burning. In addition, diverse process studies and time-series observations have clearly revealed the complexity of interactions between nutrient cycles, ecosystems, the carbon-cycle and the physical envi ronment.

Marine geochemistry uses chemical elements and their isotopes to study how the ocean works in terms of ocean circulation, chemical composition, biological activity and atmospheric CO2 regulation. This rapidly growing field is at a crossroad for many disciplines (physical, chemical and biological oceanography, geology, climatology, ecology, etc.). It provides important quantitative answers to questions such as: What is the deep ocean mixing rate? How much atmospheric CO2 is pumped by the ocean? How fast are pollutants removed from the ocean? How do ecosystems react to anthropogenic pressure? This text gives a simple introduction to the concepts, the methods and the applications of marine geochemistry with a particular emphasis on isotopic tracers. Overall introducing a very large number of topics (physical oceanography, ocean chemistry, isotopes, gas exchange, modelling, biogeochemical cycles), with a balance of didactic and indepth information, it provides an outline and a complete course in marine geochemistry. Throughout, the book uses a hands-on approach with worked out exercises and problems (with answers provided at the end of the book), to help the students work through the concepts presented. A broad scale approach is take including ocean physics, marine biology, ocean-climate relations, remote sensing, pollutions and ecology, so that the reader acquires a global perspective of the ocean. It also includes new topics arising from ongoing research programs. This textbook is essential reading for students, scholars, researchers and other professionals.

Focuses on the ocean's role in the global biogeochemical cycling of selected elements and the impact of humans on the transport of these elements. Among the topics covered are the chemical composition of seawater from the perspectives of elemental speciation and the impact of solutes on water's physical behavior; biogeochemical phenomena which control accumulation and preservation of marine sediments; marine chemistry of radioactive and stable isotopes; seawater pollution. Contains many examples as well as steady-state models to aid readers in understanding this relatively young, growing and complex science.