Biogeosciences
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5
2
2008
10.5194/bg-5-485-2008
http://www.biogeosciences.net/5/485/2008/
http://www.biogeosciences.net/5/485/2008/bg-5-485-2008.html
http://www.biogeosciences.net/5/485/2008/bg-5-485-2008.pdf
485
494
2008-04-01
Coccolithophores and calcite saturation state in the Baltic and Black Seas
T. Tyrrell
tt@noc.soton.ac.uk
B. Schneider
A. Charalampopoulou
U. Riebesell
National Oceanography Centre, Southampton University, European Way, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK
Institut für Ostseeforschung Warnemünde, Seestrasse 15, 18119 Rostock, Germany
Leibniz-Institute of Marine Sciences, IFM-GEOMAR, Duesternbrooker Weg 20, 24105 Kiel, Germany
The Baltic and Black Seas are both brackish, that is to say both have
salinities intermediate between freshwater and seawater. The coccolithophore
<i>Emiliania huxleyi</i> is abundant in one, the Black Sea, but absent from the other, the Baltic
Sea. Here we present summertime coccolithophore measurements confirming this
difference, as well as data on the calcium carbonate saturation state of the
Baltic Sea. We find that the Baltic Sea becomes undersaturated (or nearly
so) in winter, with respect to both the aragonite and calcite mineral forms
of CaCO<sub>3</sub>. Data for the Black Sea are more limited, but it appears to
remain strongly supersaturated year-round. The absence of <i>E. huxleyi</i> from the Baltic
Sea could therefore potentially be explained by dissolution of their
coccoliths in winter, suggesting that minimum annual (wintertime) saturation
states could be most important in determining future ocean acidification
impacts. In addition to this potential importance of winter saturation
state, alternative explanations are also possible, either related to
differences in salinity or else to differences in silicate concentrations.
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