Rapid Acidification of the Arctic Chukchi Sea Waters Driven by Anthropogenic Forcing and Biological Carbon Recycling

Abstract

The acidification of coastal waters is distinguished from the open ocean because of much stronger synergistic effects between anthropogenic forcing and local biogeochemical processes. However, ocean acidification research is still rather limited in polar coastal oceans. Here, we present a 17-year (2002–2019) observational data set in the Chukchi Sea to determine the long-term changes in pH and aragonite saturation state (Ωarag). We found that pH and Ωarag declined in different water masses with average rates of −0.0047 ± 0.0026 years−1 and −0.017 ± 0.009 years−1, respectively, and are ∼2–3 times faster than those solely due to increasing atmospheric CO2. We attributed the rapid acidification to the increased dissolved inorganic carbon owing to a combination of ice melt-induced increased atmospheric CO2 invasion and subsurface remineralization induced by a stronger surface biological production as a result of the increased inflow of the nutrient-rich Pacific water.