Deep-ocean metabolic CO2 production: calculations from ETS activity

Abstract

Deep-ocean respiration, in terms of CO2 production, was calculated from measurements of the respiratory electron transport system in microplankton samples from the north central Pacific Ocean and from the northeastern Sargasso Sea. These two data sets support recent arguments that the Pacific Ocean supports more respiration in its subsurface waters than does the Atlantic. Global new production was calculated from these data sets by calculating the CO2 production rate for the global open ocean below 200 m and then equating this to the new production. The result is 21.9 Gt C per year, 4–11 times greater than previous calculations.