Carbon dioxide coastal ocean

As nonconservative gases, carbon dioxide and oxygen are closely coupled to the organic carbon pool through autotrophic (e.g., photosynthesis) and heterotrophic (e.g., respiration) processes. The dominant primary producers in estuaries and the coastal ocean are benthic and pelagic microalgae (phytoplankton). The average atomic C-to-N-to-P ratio... 

The field measurements were carried out in coastal and offshore waters south of Cape Cod, New England in July 1997 in the framework of the NSF-sponsored Coastal Ocean Processes study (CoOP97) conducted onboard the RV Oceanus. The main part of the setup combined an infrared camera, an infrared carbon dioxide laser and a temperature calibration device (Fig. 4). 

CO can be oxidized to carbon dioxide by selected microbial groups including ammonia oxidizers and methylotrophs that have a broad substrate specificity and high affinity for CO. However, only the carbox-idotrophs obtain energy from this reaction, and these may be unable to assimilate CO efficiently at in situ concentrations. CO turnover times of 4 hours are typical for coastal waters, whereas this varies between 1 and 17 days in the open ocean. The lower oxidation rate in the open ocean may be due to light inhibition of CO oxidation. Extrapolation from laboratory... 

The ocean is evidently a major sink of carbon dioxide and plays an important role in the global carbon cycle. However, the carbon flux between seawater and sediment in the coastal seas is still poorly imderstood (Song, 2003 Li... 

Direct toxicological effects of earthqnakes are relatively unlikely. One possibility is the release of poisonous hydrogen sulfide gas from underground deposits or from coastal ocean sediments stirred up by sediments. Some concern has been expressed over the potential release of methane gas. Another possibility is the release into the atmosphere of suffocating levels of carbon dioxide gas produced by subterranean volcanic activity (see the discussion of such a devastating release from Africa s Lake Nyos in Section 3.7). 

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