2007/04/26 by Ken O. Buesseler, Carl H. Lamborg, Philip W. Boyd +15 · 2 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · Chemistry · #Ocean Acidification Effects and Responses #Marine and coastal ecosystems #Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena #Photic zone #Biogeochemical cycle #Carbon sequestration #Environmental science #Biological pump #Remineralisation #Carbon fibers #Oceanography #Deep sea #Carbon dioxide #Carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere #Carbon cycle #Sediment trap #Particulates #Total organic carbon #Atmospheric sciences #Ecosystem #Environmental chemistry #Geology #Water column #Chemistry #Climate change #Ecology #Phytoplankton #Nutrient #Biology #Materials science
paper · doi:10.1126/science.1137959
openalex publication_date 2007/04/26 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The oceanic biological pump drives sequestration of carbon dioxide in the deep sea via sinking particles. Rapid biological consumption and remineralization of carbon in the "twilight zone" (depths between the euphotic zone and 1000 meters) reduce the efficiency of sequestration. By using neutrally buoyant sediment traps to sample this chronically understudied realm, we measured a transfer efficiency of sinking particulate organic carbon between 150 and 500 meters of 20 and 50% at two contrasting sites. This large variability in transfer efficiency is poorly represented in biogeochemical models. If applied globally, this is equivalent to a difference in carbon sequestration of more than 3 petagrams of carbon per year.