Distribution and Air-Sea Fluxes of Co2 in Coral Reefs in the Greater Bay Area, China

Abstract

From May to June 2021, the sea surface partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) and air-sea CO2 fluxes around six coral reefs in the Great Bay Area (contain Pearl River Estuary (PRE) and Daya Bay) were investigated respectively. The distribution of seawater pCO2 around different coral reefs were quite different. Further analysis showed that the distribution of seawater pCO2 around the coral reefs of the PRE were mainly affected by biological metabolism and seawater mixing, while those in Daya Bay were mainly controlled by temperature and seawater mixing. During the survey, the three coral reefs in the PRE were affected by algal blooms showing strong sinks of atmospheric CO2 ranging from -12.3 to -19.2 mmol CO2 m-2 d-1. However, the difference between the seawater pCO2 and atmospheric pCO2 in the three coral reefs of Daya Bay were all very small, and they were weak sources or sinks of atmospheric CO2, respectively.

Keywords: Great Bay Area, air-sea CO2 exchange, distribution, water mixing, biological metabolism