NASA: Interdisciplinary Research in Earth Science
(2009)
Abstract:
Changing climate and land use practices have the potential to dramatically alter coupled hydrologic-biogeochemical processes and associated movement of water, carbon and nutrients through various terrestrial reservoirs. Such changes will ultimately influence the delivery of dissolved and particulate materials from terrestrial systems into rivers, estuaries, and coastal ocean waters. Consequences of climate– and land use–related changes will be particularly evident in large river basins and their associated coastal outflow regions. An integrated suite of models will be used in conjunction with remotely sensed as well as targeted in situ observations with the objectives of describing processes controlling fluxes on land, their coupling to riverine systems, and the delivery of materials to estuaries and the coastal ocean. Terrestrial hydrological-ecosystem models coupled with hydrological-biogeochemical models of coastal and estuarine systems will be used in conjunction with satellite and in situ observations to examine water quality, transport, and ecosystem function resulting from climate and land use change. Our objectives include the following: 1) Assemble and evaluate long term datasets for the assessment of impacts of climate variability, extreme weather events, and land use practices on transport of water, carbon and nitrogen within terrestrial systems and the delivery of materials to waterways and rivers 2) Using the Mississippi River as a testbed, develop and evaluate an integrated suite of models to describe linkages between terrestrial and riverine systems, transport of carbon and nutrients in the Mississippi river and its tributaries, and associated cycling of carbon and nutrients in coastal ocean waters 3) Evaluate uncertainty in model products and parameters and identify areas where improved model performance is needed through model refinement and data assimilation.
In 2011, the scope of this work was expanded to include specific objectives and products for the NASA Carbon Monitoring System effort. The uncertainties in coastal carbon fluxes are such that the net uptake of carbon in the coastal margins remains a poorly constrained term in the global carbon budget. The proposed research will employ a combination of models and remotely-sensed and in situ observations to develop estimates of land-ocean exchange of carbon, air-sea exchanges of carbon dioxide, and coastal to open ocean exchanges of carbon. Such information is critically needed to better constrain the contribution of coastal margins to carbon sources and sinks and improve capabilities to attribute sources and sinks to different regions as well as reducing uncertainties in estimates. The chosen region of study, the northern Gulf of Mexico, provides an excellent setting to carry out this work as there are a large number of supporting datasets and on-going programs that will complement this work. The proposed work is also closely aligned with objectives of the North American Carbon Program and the NASA Carbon Monitoring System scoping effort. Results would also benefit efforts to describe and predict how land use and land cover changes impact coastal water quality including possible effects of coastal eutrophication and hypoxia.
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Project URL(s):
None provided.
Data Products:
Product Title: Coastal to open ocean C exchange
Description: Derivation of C exchange from the coastal to open ocean based on a mass balance approach using river input, air-sea CO2 flux, and primary production and respiration rates measured in two field programs (10 cruises) since 2006. This effort should provide an estimate carbon export flux and will also point out directions of future work.
Product development continued in Lohrenz-04 and Lohrenz-05 CMS Projects.
Application Areas: Land management; Global carbon budget calculations; Watershed protection plans; Ocean acidification mitigation
Relevant Policies/Programs:
Potential Users: Environmental managers, researchers, federal agencies including USGS, EPA, and NOAA
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Date When Product Available: 2013-01-01
Metadata URL(s):
Data Server URL(s):
Archived Data Citation: Lohrenz, S. E., W.-J. Cai, S. Chakraborty, K. Gundersen, and M. C. Murrell (2013), Nutrient and carbon dynamics in a large river-dominated coastal ecosystem: the Mississippi-Atchafalaya River system, in Biogeochemical Dynamics at Major River-Coastal Interfaces: Linkages with Global Change, edited by T. S. Bianchi, M. A. Allison and W.-J. Cai, pp. 448-472, Cambridge University Press.
Bounding Coordinates:
West Longitude:
-92.93000
East Longitude:
-85.10000
North Latitude:
29.50000
South Latitude:
26.93000
Product Title: Partial pressure (or fugacity) of carbon dioxide, salinity and other variables collected from Surface underway observations using Carbon dioxide (CO2) gas analyzer, Shower head chamber equilibrator for autonomous carbon dioxide (CO2) measurement and other instruments from the USS BOLD in the Gulf of Mexico from 2006-06-06 to 2006-09-11 (NCEI Accession 0117493)
Start Date: 06/2006End Date: 09/2006
Description: NODC Accession 0117493 includes Surface underway, chemical, meteorological and physical data collected from USS BOLD in the Gulf of Mexico from 2006-06-06 to 2006-09-11. These data include BAROMETRIC PRESSURE, Partial pressure (or fugacity) of carbon dioxide - water, SALINITY and SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE. The instruments used to collect these data include Carbon dioxide (CO2) gas analyzer and Shower head chamber equilibrator for autonomous carbon dioxide (CO2) measurement.
These data were collected by Wei-Jun Cai, Wei-Jen Huang and Yongchen Wang of University of Georgia; School of Marine Programs as part of the Coastal_UG_Gulf_of_Mexico_2006 data set. CDIAC assigned the following cruise ID(s) to this data set: 31B520060606 (GM0606) and 31B520060906 (GM0609).
The Global Coastal Carbon Data Project data includes the bottle (discrete) and surface (underway) carbon-related measurements from coastal research cruises, the data from time series cruises and coastal moorings. The coastal regions data are very important for the understanding of carbon cycle on the continental margins.
Archived Data Citation: Cai, W.-J., Y. Wang, and W.-J. Huang. 2012. Sea Surface pCO2 measurements in the Gulf of Mexico during the Ocean Survey Vessel Bold cruises in 2006. http://cdiac.ornl.gov/ftp/oceans/UG_GoM_UW_Data/2006.data. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, US Department of Energy, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. DOI: 10.3334/CDIAC/OTG.UG_GOM_UW_2006.
Xue, Z., R. He, K. Fennel, W. J. Cai, S. Lohrenz, W. J. Huang, H. Tian, W. Ren, and Z. Zang (2016), Modeling pCO2 variability in the Gulf of Mexico, Biogeosciences, 13(15), 4359-4377, DOI: 10.5194/bg-13-4359-2016
Bounding Coordinates:
West Longitude:
-93.43010
East Longitude:
-87.33980
North Latitude:
30.23490
South Latitude:
28.17990
Product Title: Partial pressure (or fugacity) of carbon dioxide, salinity and other variables collected from underway - surface observations using Carbon dioxide (CO2) gas analyzer, Shower head chamber equilibrator for autonomous carbon dioxide (CO2) measurement and other instruments from the CAPE HATTERAS in the Gulf of Mexico from 2009-01-09 to 2010-03-21 (NCEI Accession 0115765)
Start Date: 01/2009End Date: 03/2010
Description: NODC Accession 0115765 includes chemical, meteorological, physical and underway - surface data collected from CAPE HATTERAS in the Gulf of Mexico from 2009-01-09 to 2010-03-21. These data include BAROMETRIC PRESSURE, CARBON DIOXIDE - AIR, Partial pressure (or fugacity) of carbon dioxide, SALINITY and SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE. The instruments used to collect these data include Carbon dioxide (CO2) gas analyzer and Shower head chamber equilibrator for autonomous carbon dioxide (CO2) measurement.
These data were collected by Wei-Jun Cai of University of Delaware; College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment; School of Marine Science and Policy as part of the Coastal_Cape Hatteras_GM_0901, Coastal_Cape_Hatteras_GM_0904, Coastal_Cape_Hatteras_GM_0907 and Coastal_Cape_Hatteras_GM_1003 data set. CDIAC assigned the following cruise ID(s) to this data set: 32KZ20090109, 32KZ20090420, 32KZ20090719 and 32KZ20100311.
The Global Coastal Carbon Data Project data includes the bottle (discrete) and surface (underway) carbon-related measurements from coastal research cruises, the data from time series cruises and coastal moorings. The coastal regions data are very important for the understanding of carbon cycle on the continental margins.
Status: Archived
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Potential Users: Environmental managers, researchers, federal agencies including USGS, EPA, and NOAA
Archived Data Citation: Cai, W.-J., Y. Wang and W.-J. Huang. 2014. Sea surface pCO2 survey in the Gulf of Mexico during the R/V Cape Hatteras cruises in 2009 and 2010. http://cdiac.ess-dive.lbl.gov/ftp/oceans/Cape_Hatteras_GM/. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, US Department of Energy, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. DOI: 10.3334/CDIAC/OTG.Cape_Hatteras_GM
Bounding Coordinates:
West Longitude:
-93.81698
East Longitude:
-87.98232
North Latitude:
30.35972
South Latitude:
27.53240
Product Title: Partial pressure (or fugacity) of carbon dioxide, salinity and SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE collected from Surface underway observations using Carbon dioxide (CO2) gas analyzer, Shower head chamber equilibrator for autonomous carbon dioxide (CO2) measurement and other instruments from the USS BOLD in the Gulf of Mexico from 2007-05-02 to 2007-08-24 (NCEI Accession 0117500)
Start Date: 05/2007End Date: 08/2007
Description: NODC Accession 0117500 includes Surface underway, chemical and physical data collected from USS BOLD in the Gulf of Mexico from 2007-05-02 to 2007-08-24. These data include Partial pressure (or fugacity) of carbon dioxide - water, SALINITY and SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE. The instruments used to collect these data include Carbon dioxide (CO2) gas analyzer and Shower head chamber equilibrator for autonomous carbon dioxide (CO2) measurement.
These data were collected by Wei-Jun Cai, Wei-Jen Huang and Yongchen Wang of University of Georgia; School of Marine Programs as part of the Coastal_UG_Gulf_of_Mexico_2007 data set. CDIAC assigned the following cruise ID(s) to this data set: 31B520070502 (GM0705) and 31B520070818 (GM0708).
The Global Coastal Carbon Data Project data includes the bottle (discrete) and surface (underway) carbon-related measurements from coastal research cruises, the data from time series cruises and coastal moorings. The coastal regions data are very important for the understanding of carbon cycle on the continental margins.
Status: Archived
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Potential Users: Environmental managers, researchers, federal agencies including USGS, EPA, and NOAA
Archived Data Citation: Cai, W.-J., Y. Wang, and W.-J. Huang. 2012. Sea Surface pCO2 measurements in the Gulf of Mexico during the Ocean Survey Vessel Bold cruises in 2007.
Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, US Department of Energy, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. DOI: 10.3334/CDIAC/OTG.UG_GOM_UW_2007
Bounding Coordinates:
West Longitude:
-93.42999
East Longitude:
-87.29086
North Latitude:
30.27041
South Latitude:
28.17926
Product Title: Export and Leaching of Carbon and Nitrogen from Mississippi River Basin, 1901-2099
Start Date: 01/1901End Date: 12/2099 (1901-2099)
Description: This dataset provides estimates for export and leaching of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), total organic carbon (TOC), particulate organic carbon (POC), ammonium (NH4+), nitrate (NO3-), and total organic nitrogen (TON) from the Mississippi River Basin (MRB) to the Gulf of Mexico. The estimates are provided for a historical period of 1901-2014, and a future period of 2010-2099 (carbon estimates only) under two scenarios of high and low levels of population growth, economy, and energy consumption, respectively. The estimates are from the Dynamic Land Ecosystem Model 2.0 (DLEM 2.0). These data are applicable to studying how changes in multiple environmental factors (e.g., fertilizer application, land-use changes, climate variability, atmospheric CO2, and N deposition) affect the dynamics of leaching and export to the Gulf of Mexico.
Status: Archived
CMS Science Theme(s): Land-Ocean Flux
Keywords: carbon; nitrogen
Spatial Extent: Mississippi River Basin
Spatial Resolution: Carbon data are 5 arc minute; nitrogen data are 7.5 arc minute
Temporal Frequency: annual
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Potential Users: Environmental managers, researchers, federal agencies including USGS, EPA, and NOAA
Archived Data Citation: Tian, H., S.E. Lohrenz, S. Pan, W.J. Cai, and R. He. 2019. Export and Leaching of Carbon and Nitrogen from Mississippi River Basin, 1901-2099. ORNL DAAC, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA. DOI: 10.3334/ORNLDAAC/1699
Bounding Coordinates:
West Longitude:
-126.00000
East Longitude:
-62.00000
North Latitude:
53.00000
South Latitude:
24.50000
Publications:
Chakraborty, S., Lohrenz, S. E., Gundersen, K. 2017. Photophysiological and light absorption properties of phytoplankton communities in the river-dominated margin of the northern
G
ulf of
M
exico. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans. 122(6), 4922-4938. DOI: 10.1002/2016JC012092
Lohrenz, S. E., Cai, W., Chakraborty, S., Huang, W., Guo, X., He, R., Xue, Z., Fennel, K., Howden, S., Tian, H. 2018. Satellite estimation of coastal pCO2 and air-sea flux of carbon dioxide in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Remote Sensing of Environment. 207, 71-83. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2017.12.039
Lu, C., Yu, Z., Tian, H., Hennessy, D. A., Feng, H., Al-Kaisi, M., Zhou, Y., Sauer, T., Arritt, R. 2018. Increasing carbon footprint of grain crop production in the US Western Corn Belt. Environmental Research Letters. 13(12), 124007. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/aae9fe
Tian, H., Ren, W., Yang, J., Tao, B., Cai, W., Lohrenz, S. E., Hopkinson, C. S., Liu, M., Yang, Q., Lu, C., Zhang, B., Banger, K., Pan, S., He, R., Xue, Z. 2015. Climate extremes dominating seasonal and interannual variations in carbon export from the Mississippi River Basin. Global Biogeochemical Cycles. 29(9), 1333-1347. DOI: 10.1002/2014GB005068
Tian, H., Xu, R., Pan, S., Yao, Y., Bian, Z., Cai, W., Hopkinson, C. S., Justic, D., Lohrenz, S., Lu, C., Ren, W., Yang, J. 2020. Long-Term Trajectory of Nitrogen Loading and Delivery From Mississippi River Basin to the Gulf of Mexico. Global Biogeochemical Cycles. 34(5). DOI: 10.1029/2019GB006475
Tian, H., Yang, Q., Najjar, R. G., Ren, W., Friedrichs, M. A. M., Hopkinson, C. S., Pan, S. 2015. Anthropogenic and climatic influences on carbon fluxes from eastern North America to the Atlantic Ocean: A process-based modeling study. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences. 120(4), 757-772. DOI: 10.1002/2014JG002760
Yu, Z., Lu, C., Cao, P., Tian, H. 2018. Long-term terrestrial carbon dynamics in the Midwestern United States during 1850-2015: Roles of land use and cover change and agricultural management. Global Change Biology. 24(6), 2673-2690. DOI: 10.1111/gcb.14074
Tian, H., Lu, C., Ciais, P., Michalak, A. M., Canadell, J. G., Saikawa, E., Huntzinger, D. N., Gurney, K. R., Sitch, S., Zhang, B., Yang, J., Bousquet, P., Bruhwiler, L., Chen, G., Dlugokencky, E., Friedlingstein, P., Melillo, J., Pan, S., Poulter, B., Prinn, R., Saunois, M., Schwalm, C. R., Wofsy, S. C. 2016. The terrestrial biosphere as a net source of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Nature. 531(7593), 225-228. DOI: 10.1038/nature16946
Liu, M., Tian, H., Yang, Q., Yang, J., Song, X., Lohrenz, S. E., Cai, W. 2013. Long-term trends in evapotranspiration and runoff over the drainage basins of the Gulf of Mexico during 1901-2008. Water Resources Research. 49(4), 1988-2012. DOI: 10.1002/wrcr.20180
Huang, W., Cai, W., Powell, R. T., Lohrenz, S. E., Wang, Y., Jiang, L., Hopkinson, C. S. 2012. The stoichiometry of inorganic carbon and nutrient removal in the Mississippi River plume and adjacent continental shelf. Biogeosciences. 9(7), 2781-2792. DOI: 10.5194/bg-9-2781-2012
Guo, X., Cai, W., Huang, W., Wang, Y., Chen, F., Murrell, M. C., Lohrenz, S. E., Jiang, L., Dai, M., Hartmann, J., Lin, Q., Culp, R. 2011. Carbon dynamics and community production in the Mississippi River plume. Limnology and Oceanography. 57(1), 1-17. DOI: 10.4319/lo.2012.57.1.0001
Cai, W., Hu, X., Huang, W., Murrell, M. C., Lehrter, J. C., Lohrenz, S. E., Chou, W., Zhai, W., Hollibaugh, J. T., Wang, Y., Zhao, P., Guo, X., Gundersen, K., Dai, M., Gong, G. 2011. Acidification of subsurface coastal waters enhanced by eutrophication. Nature Geoscience. 4(11), 766-770. DOI: 10.1038/ngeo1297
Archived Data Citations:
Cai, W.-J., Y. Wang, and W.-J. Huang. 2012. Sea Surface pCO2 measurements in the Gulf of Mexico during the Ocean Survey Vessel Bold cruises in 2006. http://cdiac.ornl.gov/ftp/oceans/UG_GoM_UW_Data/2006.data. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, US Department of Energy, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. DOI: 10.3334/CDIAC/OTG.UG_GOM_UW_2006.
Xue, Z., R. He, K. Fennel, W. J. Cai, S. Lohrenz, W. J. Huang, H. Tian, W. Ren, and Z. Zang (2016), Modeling pCO2 variability in the Gulf of Mexico, Biogeosciences, 13(15), 4359-4377, DOI: 10.5194/bg-13-4359-2016
Lohrenz, S. E., W.-J. Cai, S. Chakraborty, K. Gundersen, and M. C. Murrell (2013), Nutrient and carbon dynamics in a large river-dominated coastal ecosystem: the Mississippi-Atchafalaya River system, in Biogeochemical Dynamics at Major River-Coastal Interfaces: Linkages with Global Change, edited by T. S. Bianchi, M. A. Allison and W.-J. Cai, pp. 448-472, Cambridge University Press.
Cai, W.-J., Y. Wang, and W.-J. Huang. 2012. Sea Surface pCO2 measurements in the Gulf of Mexico during the Ocean Survey Vessel Bold cruises in 2007.
http://cdiac.ornl.gov/ftp/oceans/UG_GoM_UW_Data/2007.data.
Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, US Department of Energy, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. DOI: 10.3334/CDIAC/OTG.UG_GOM_UW_2007
Cai, W.-J., Y. Wang and W.-J. Huang. 2014. Sea surface pCO2 survey in the Gulf of Mexico during the R/V Cape Hatteras cruises in 2009 and 2010. http://cdiac.ess-dive.lbl.gov/ftp/oceans/Cape_Hatteras_GM/. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, US Department of Energy, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. DOI: 10.3334/CDIAC/OTG.Cape_Hatteras_GM
Tian, H., S.E. Lohrenz, S. Pan, W.J. Cai, and R. He. 2019. Export and Leaching of Carbon and Nitrogen from Mississippi River Basin, 1901-2099. ORNL DAAC, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA. DOI: 10.3334/ORNLDAAC/1699
2015 NASA Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Joint Science Workshop Poster(s)
Ocean margins as an increasing sink for the atmospheric carbon dioxide
-- (Wei-Jun Cai, Goulven Laruelle, Xinping Hu, Pierre Regnier)
[abstract]
The response of inorganic carbon distributions and dynamics to upwelling favorable winds on the northern Gulf of Mexico during summer -- (Wei-Jen Huang, Wei-Jun Cai, Yongchen Wang, Xinping Hu, Baoshan Chen, Steven Lohrenz, Sumit Chakraborty, Ruoying He, Austin Todd, Jay Brandes, Charles Hopkinson) [abstract]
Contemporary and projected lateral carbon fluxes from North America to Oceans: A process-based modeling study -- (Hanqin Tian, Qichun Yang, Bowen Zhang, Jia Yang, Shufen Pan, Wei Ren, Chaoqun Lu, Bo Tao, Steven Lohrenz, Wei-Jun Cai, Ruoying He, Marjorie Friedrichs, Raymond Najjar) [abstract]
Impacts of terrestrial exports on carbon dynamics of the northern Gulf of Mexico -- (Wei-jun Cai) [abstract]
Impacts of Population Growth, Urbanization and Agricultural Expansion on Riverine Fluxes and Coastal Ecosystems in the Southeastern U.S. as assessed by the Coupled Land-Ocean Modeling System, Part 1: Riverine Flux Variations -- (Hanqin Tian, Ruoying He, Wei Ren, Bo Tao, Jia Yang, Chaoqun Lu, Qichun Yang, Bowen Zhang, Zuo Xue, Joseph Zambon, Wei-jun Cai, Steven Lohrenz) [abstract]
Impacts of Population Growth, Urbanization and Agricultural Expansion on Riverine Fluxes and Coastal Ecosystems in the Southeastern U.S. as assessed by the Coupled Land-Ocean Modeling System, Part 2: Marine Ecosystem Responses -- (Ruoying He, Hanqin Tian, Zuo Xue, Joseph Zambon, Zhigang Yao, Wei Ren, Chaoqun Lu, Bo Tao, Wei-jun Cai, Steven Lohrenz) [abstract]
Assessing Impacts of Climate and Land Use Change on Terrestrial-Ocean Fluxes of Carbon and Nutrients and Their Cycling in Coastal Ecosystems -- (Steven Lohrenz, Wei-jun Cai, Hanqin Tian, Ruoying He, Mingliang Liu) [abstract]