Role of biology in the air-sea carbon flux in the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea

Abstract

A physical-biological-chemical model (PBCM) is used for investigating the seasonal cycle of air-sea carbon flux and for assessing the effect of the biological processes on seasonal time scale in the Arabian Sea (AS) and Bay of Bengal (BoB), where the surface waters are subjected to contrasting physical conditions. The formulation of PBCM is given in Swathi et al (2000), and evaluation of several ammonium-inhibited nitrate uptake models is given in Sharada et al (2005). The PBCM is here first evaluated against JGOFS data on surface pCO2 in AS, Bay of Bengal Process Studies (BoBPS) data on column integrated primary productivity in BoB, and WOCE Il data on dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and alkalinity (ALK) in the upper 500 meters at 9°N in AS and at 10°N in BoB in September-October. There is good qualitative agreement with local quantitative discrepancies. The net effect of biological processes on air-sea carbon flux on seasonal time scale is determined with an auxiliary computational experiment, called the abiotic run, in which the biological processes are turned off. The difference between the biotic run and abiotic run is interpreted as the net effect of biological processes on the seasonal variability of chemical variables. The net biological effect on air-sea carbon flux is found to be highest in southwest monsoon season in the northwest AS, where strong upwelling drives intense new production. The biological effect is larger in AS than in BoB, as seasonal upwelling and mixing are strong in AS, especially in the northeast, while coastal upwelling and mixing are weak in BoB.