Contribution of Biological Effects to Carbonate-System Variations and the Air–Water CO2 Flux in Urbanized Bays in Japan

Abstract

We evaluated the contribution of net biological effects (photosynthesis + respiration + decomposition) to the carbonate parameters and air–water CO2 fluxes in Tokyo Bay, Ise Bay, and Osaka Bay in Japan. The carbonate parameters (fugacity of CO2, total alkalinity, and dissolved inorganic carbon) were measured mainly by cargo ships traveling between Japan and other countries. We used the measurement data from three inner bays and surrounding outer bays in Japan along with reference data from previous studies for complementary analysis. We found that (a) the inner and outer bays in this study were strong annual atmospheric CO2 sinks, (b) the annual biological effect on the air–water CO2 fluxes was about 6%–27% of the measured CO2 fluxes, and it affected the seasonal variation of the CO2 flux, and (c) the biological effect was largest in Tokyo Bay, and almost the same in Ise and Osaka Bays. The intensity of the biological effect corresponded mainly with nutrient concentrations, which seemed to be controlled by the wastewater treatment in urbanized areas around the bays. Our results suggest that labile carbon/nutrient ratio of wastewater should be a major consideration for evaluating the biological effect on the carbon cycle in urbanized bays, which will continue to expand globally.