The Ocean Margins Program: an interdisciplinary study of carbon sources, transformations, and sinks in a temperate continental margin system

TitleThe Ocean Margins Program: an interdisciplinary study of carbon sources, transformations, and sinks in a temperate continental margin system
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2002
AuthorsVerity, PG, Bauer, JE, Flagg, CN, DeMaster, DJ, Repeta, DJ
JournalDeep-Sea Research Part Ii-Topical Studies in Oceanography
Volume49
Issue20
Pagination4273-4295
Date Published2002
ISBN Number0967-0645
Keywordscape-hatteras, chesapeake bay, co2 fluxes, coastal zone, dissolved organic-carbon, gulf-stream, middle atlantic bight, north-carolina, slope sediments, united-states
Abstract

The cycling of carbon on the US east coast shelf and upper slope has been studied for 20 years in a variety of interdisciplinary programs focused on the, Mid and South Atlantic Bights. The culmination of this research was a comprehensive field study conducted in 1996 to ascertain whether the Cape Hatteras shelf was a net source or sink for atmospheric CO(2), and the associated transformations and pathways of inorganic and organic carbon. The rationale, objectives, design, and overview of the Ocean Margins Program are given here as a framework to interpret the results of the papers presented in this special issue. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.