TY - JOUR

T1 - Sensing the ocean biological carbon pump from space

T2 - A review of capabilities, concepts, research gaps and future developments

AU - Brewin, Robert J. W.

AU - Sathyendranath, Shubha

AU - Platt, Trevor

AU - Bouman, Heather A.

AU - Ciavatta, Stefano

AU - Dall'Olmo, Giorgio

AU - Dingle, James

AU - Groom, Steven

AU - Jönsson, Bror F.

AU - Kostadinov, Tihomir, S.

AU - Kulk, Gemma

AU - Laine, M.

AU - Martinez-Vicente, Victor

AU - Psarra, Stella

AU - Raitsos, D.E.

AU - Richardson, Katherine

AU - Rio, M

AU - Rosseaux, C.

AU - Salisbury, Joe

AU - Shutler, Jamie, D.

AU - Walker, Peter J

N1 - Funding Information: This work was funded through a European Space Agency (ESA) project “Biological Pump and Carbon Exchange Processes (BICEP)” and by the Simons Foundation Project “Collaboration on Computational Biogeochemical Modeling of Marine Ecosystems (CBIOMES)” (549947, SS). It was also supported by the UK National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO). Additional support from the Ocean Colour Component of the Climate Change Initiative of the European Space Agency (ESA) is gratefully acknowledged. Tiho S. Kostadinov acknowledges support from NASA grant #80NSSC19K0297 and California State University San Marcos. Cécile S. Rousseaux acknowledges support from NASA grant NNH15ZDA01N-OBB. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - The element carbon plays a central role in climate and life on Earth. It is capable of moving among the geosphere, cryosphere, atmosphere, biosphere and hydrosphere. This flow of carbon is referred to as the Earth's carbon cycle. It is also intimately linked to the cycling of other elements and compounds. The ocean plays a fundamental role in Earth's carbon cycle, helping to regulate atmospheric CO2 concentration. The ocean biological carbon pump (OBCP), defined as a set of processes that transfer organic carbon from the surface to the deep ocean, is at the heart of the ocean carbon cycle. Monitoring the OBCP is critical to understanding how the Earth's carbon cycle is changing. At present, satellite remote sensing is the only tool available for viewing the entire surface ocean at high temporal and spatial scales. In this paper, we review methods for monitoring the OBCP with a focus on satellites. We begin by providing an overview of the OBCP, defining and describing the pools of carbon in the ocean, and the processes controlling fluxes of carbon between the pools, from the surface to the deep ocean, and among ocean, land and atmosphere. We then examine how field measurements, from ship and autonomous platforms, complement satellite observations, provide validation points for satellite products and lead to a more complete view of the OBCP than would be possible from satellite observations alone. A thorough analysis is then provided on methods used for monitoring the OBCP from satellite platforms, covering current capabilities, concepts and gaps, and the requirement for uncertainties in satellite products. We finish by discussing the potential for producing a satellite-based carbon budget for the oceans, the advantages of integrating satellite-based observations with ecosystem models and field measurements, and future opportunities in space, all with a view towards bringing satellite observations into the limelight of ocean carbon research.

AB - The element carbon plays a central role in climate and life on Earth. It is capable of moving among the geosphere, cryosphere, atmosphere, biosphere and hydrosphere. This flow of carbon is referred to as the Earth's carbon cycle. It is also intimately linked to the cycling of other elements and compounds. The ocean plays a fundamental role in Earth's carbon cycle, helping to regulate atmospheric CO2 concentration. The ocean biological carbon pump (OBCP), defined as a set of processes that transfer organic carbon from the surface to the deep ocean, is at the heart of the ocean carbon cycle. Monitoring the OBCP is critical to understanding how the Earth's carbon cycle is changing. At present, satellite remote sensing is the only tool available for viewing the entire surface ocean at high temporal and spatial scales. In this paper, we review methods for monitoring the OBCP with a focus on satellites. We begin by providing an overview of the OBCP, defining and describing the pools of carbon in the ocean, and the processes controlling fluxes of carbon between the pools, from the surface to the deep ocean, and among ocean, land and atmosphere. We then examine how field measurements, from ship and autonomous platforms, complement satellite observations, provide validation points for satellite products and lead to a more complete view of the OBCP than would be possible from satellite observations alone. A thorough analysis is then provided on methods used for monitoring the OBCP from satellite platforms, covering current capabilities, concepts and gaps, and the requirement for uncertainties in satellite products. We finish by discussing the potential for producing a satellite-based carbon budget for the oceans, the advantages of integrating satellite-based observations with ecosystem models and field measurements, and future opportunities in space, all with a view towards bringing satellite observations into the limelight of ocean carbon research.

KW - Biology

KW - Carbon cycle

KW - Ocean

KW - Satellite

U2 - 10.1016/j.earscirev.2021.103604

DO - 10.1016/j.earscirev.2021.103604

M3 - Review

AN - SCOPUS:85104794461

VL - 217

JO - Earth-Science Reviews

JF - Earth-Science Reviews

SN - 0012-8252

M1 - 103604

ER -