HR: 0830h
AN: OS31C-0215    [PDF]
TI: An Idealized Model of Organic Carbon Dynamics on the Continental Margin of the Eastern United States
AU: * Siedlecki, S A
EM: siedlesa@uchicago.edu
AF: University of Chicago Dept. of Geophysical Sciences, 5734 S. Ellis Ave, Chicago, IL 60637 United States
AU: Archer, D
EM: archer@geosci.uchicago.edu
AF: University of Chicago Dept. of Geophysical Sciences, 5734 S. Ellis Ave, Chicago, IL 60637 United States
AU: Mahadevan, A
EM: amala@bu.edu
AF: Boston University Dept. of Earth Sciences, 685 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215 United States
AB: Continental margins play a significant role in the production and burial of organic carbon in the ocean, bur these areas are poorly resolved global circulation models. In this study, a high-resolution three-dimensional, nonhydrostatic model of an idealized eastern coastal United States after Mahadevan and Archer, 1998, was modified to simulate organic carbon production and export off the shelf. The model assumes a periodic north and south boundary, and an offshore boundary at the shelf-break density front determined by bathymetry. The model uses a free surface and a sigma grid in the vertical. The model is initialized with a vertical nutrient profile taken from the open Atlantic Ocean. As the winds are given time to influence the region, upwelling conditions can result in the vertical movement of water. Vertical diffusion also carries nutrients into the euphotic zone. Excess nutrients in the euphotic zone are converted to particles that advect with the flow while sinking with a velocity of 10$^{-5}$ m/s. Remineralization is treated as a first-order decay. We will vary the alongshore wind stress, shelf width, and vertical diffusivity to determine their respective impacts on organic carbon export. Eventually, we hope to parameterize the impact of coastal circulation on the carbon cycle with global circulation and carbon models. Mahadevan, A., Archer, D., Modeling a Limited Region of the Ocean, Journal of Computational Physics 145, 555-574, 1998.
DE: 3022 Marine sediments--processes and transport
DE: 3210 Modeling
DE: 4219 Continental shelf processes
DE: 4558 Sediment transport
DE: 4806 Carbon cycling
SC: Ocean Sciences [OS]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting