Nitrogen and carbon cycling in the North Sea and exchange with the North Atlantic—A model study. Part I. Nitrogen budget and fluxes

The three-dimensional biogeochemical model ECOHAM was applied to the Northwest European Shelf (47°41′–63°53′N, 15°5′W–13°55′E) for the years 1993–1996. Nitrogen budgets were calculated for the years 1995 and 1996 for the inner shelf region, the North Sea (511,725 km²). Simulated temperatures as well as nitrate, oxygen, and chlorophyll concentrations are compared with observations.     

The PROWQM physical–biological model with benthic–pelagic coupling applied to the northern North Sea

PROWQM, a 1-D depth resolving model which couples physical and microbiological processes in the water column with sedimentation/resuspension and benthic mineralisation processes, has been used to simulate seasonal changes of chlorophyll, nutrients and oxygen at the PROVESS north site (59°20′N 1°00′E) in the North Sea. PROWQM is derived from the 3-D model COHERENS, and improves COHEREN's benthic and pelagic biology.The physical sub-model of PROWQM implicitly solves turbulence closure equations forced by climatological, or realistic high-frequency, meteorological and tidal data. The pelagic biological sub-model 2MPPD includes a ‘diatomy’ microplankton (mp1) and a ‘flagellatey’ (or microbial loop) microplankton (mp2), the cycling of silicon and nitrogen, slow-sinking detritus, and fast-sinking phytodetritus. Phytodetritus is formed by shear-driven aggregation of particulate material, using a simple algorithm for bulk processes that is derived by considering the interactions of single cells. The microplankton compartments include heterotrophic bacteria and protozoa as well as phytoplankton, and most microplankton rates are specified with the aid of a ‘heterotroph fraction’ parameter, which was 0.125 for mp1 and 0.6 for mp2. The microbiological system is closed by mesozooplankton grazing pressures imposed as time varying series determined from observed zooplankton abundance. The benthic boundary sub-model includes a superficial fluff layer and a nutrient element reservoir in the consolidated sediment. Particulate material in the fluff layer can be resuspended (in response to bed stress by near-bed flows), mineralised or carried by bioturbation into the underlying, consolidated, sediment, where it is mineralised and its nutrients returned to the water-column at rates mainly dependent on (implicit) macrobenthic pumping. Benthic denitrification can occur when mineralisation rates exceed oxygen supply.Verification of the PROWQM numerical implementation used test cases and checks for nutrient element conservation. Simulations with realistic forcing, for a range of parameter values, were compared with historic observations in the NOWESP data set and during FLEX76, and with those made during the PROVESS cruises in autumn 1998. PROWQM provided a good simulation of the seasonal succession from a diatom-dominated spring bloom to summer dominance by small flagellates. The simulations included sedimentation of organic matter from the spring bloom, and qualitatively realistic behaviour of the fluff layer, but decay rates were too slow and there was almost no denitrification. The simulated surface mixed layer was too shallow during the summer. Simulated annual net microplankton primary production was in between 59 and 91 g C m⁻² y⁻¹. A large proportion of mineralisation, 28–47% of nitrogen and 40–67% of silicon mineralisation, took place as a result of the decay of sinking and resuspended detritus whilst in the water column.PROWQM is discussed in relation to other models that have been used to simulate this part of the North Sea, in particular the simpler ECOHAM1 and the more complex ERSEM, and in relation to PROWQM's evolution from COHERENS.     

Validation of the three-dimensional ECOHAM model in the German Bight for 2004 including population dynamics of Pseudocalanus elongatus

A three-dimensional ecosystem model for the North Sea which includes competition between Pseudocalanus elongatus and the rest of the zooplankton biomass was applied to describe the seasonal cycle of zooplankton in 2003–2004. The paper presents the comparison of simulated stage-resolved abundances with copepod counts at several stations in the German Bight during the GLOBEC-Germany project from February to October 2004. A validation of influential state variables gives confidence that the model is able to calculate reliably the stage development and abundances of P. elongatus as well as the range of bulk zooplankton biomass, and thus the ratio of population biomass to total biomass. In the German Bight, the population is below 20% in spring. The ratio increases up to 50% during summer. The number of generations was estimated from peaks in egg abundance to about 4–8 generations of P. elongatus in the southern North Sea. A mean of four generations per year were estimated in the central North Sea, six to eight generations northwest of the Dogger Bank (tails end) and five generations in the German Bight.     

Mechanisms controlling the air–sea flux in the North Sea

The mechanisms driving the air–sea exchange of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the North Sea are investigated using the three-dimensional coupled physical–biogeochemical model ECOHAM (ECOlogical-model, HAMburg). We validate our simulations using field data for the years 2001–2002 and identify the controls of the air–sea CO₂ flux for two locations representative for the North Sea's biogeochemical provinces. In the seasonally stratified northern region, net CO₂ uptake is high () due to high net community production (NCP) in the surface water. Overflow production releasing semi-labile dissolved organic carbon needs to be considered for a realistic simulation of the low dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) concentrations observed during summer. This biologically driven carbon drawdown outcompetes the temperature-driven rise in CO₂ partial pressure (pCO₂) during the productive season. In contrast, the permanently mixed southern region is a weak net CO₂ source (). NCP is generally low except for the spring bloom because remineralization parallels primary production. Here, the pCO₂ appears to be controlled by temperature.     

Nitrogen and carbon cycling in the North Sea and exchange with the North Atlantic—A model study,Part II: Carbon budget and fluxes

The 3-d coupled physical–biogeochemical model ECOHAM (version 3) was applied to the Northwest-European Shelf (47°41′–63°53′N, 15°5′W–13°55′E) for the years 1993–1996. Carbon fluxes were calculated for the years 1995 and 1996 for the inner shelf region, the North Sea (511,725 km²). This period was chosen because it corresponds to a shift from a very high winter-time North Atlantic Oscillation Index (NAOI) in 1994/1995, to an extremely low one in 1995/1996, with consequences for the North Sea physics and biogeochemistry. During the first half of 1996, the observed mean SST was about 1 °C lower than in 1995; in the southern part of the North Sea the difference was even larger (up to 3 °C). Due to a different wind regime, the normally prevailing anti-clockwise circulation, as found in winter 1995, was replaced by more complicated circulation patterns in winter 1996. Decreased precipitation over the drainage area of the continental rivers led to a reduction in the total (inorganic and organic) riverine carbon load to the North Sea from 476 Gmol C yr⁻¹ in 1995 to 340 Gmol C yr⁻¹ in 1996. In addition, the North Sea took up 503 Gmol C yr⁻¹ of CO₂ from the atmosphere. According to our calculations, the North Sea was a sink for atmospheric CO₂, at a rate of 0.98 mol C m⁻² yr⁻¹, for both years. The North Sea is divided into two sub-systems: the shallow southern North Sea (SNS; 190,765 km²) and the deeper northern North Sea (NNS; 320,960 km²). According to our findings the SNS is a net-autotrophic system (net ecosystem production NEP>0) but released CO₂ to the atmosphere: 159 Gmol C yr⁻¹ in 1995 and 59 Gmol C yr⁻¹ in 1996. There, the temperature-driven release of CO₂ outcompetes the biological CO₂ drawdown. In the NNS, where respiratory processes prevail (NEP<0), 662 and 562 Gmol C yr⁻¹ were taken up from the atmosphere in 1995 and 1996, respectively. Stratification separates the productive, upper layer from the deeper layers of the water column where respiration/remineralization takes place. Duration and stability of the stratification are determined by the meteorological conditions, in relation to the NAO. Our results suggest that this mechanism controlling the nutrient supply to the upper layer in the northern and central North Sea has a larger impact on the carbon fluxes than changes in lateral transport due to NAOI variations. The North Sea as a whole imports organic carbon and exports inorganic carbon across the outer boundaries, and was found to be net-heterotrophic, more markedly in 1996 than in 1995.