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Anthropogenic Perturbations of the Carbon and Nitrogen Cycles in the East Sea (Sea of Japan)

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Changing Asia-Pacific Marginal Seas

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Abstract

The dynamic overturning circulation in the East Sea facilitates the absorption of anthropogenic CO2 by effectively transporting it from the surface to the interior of the sea. However, recent weakening of this overturning circulation has decreased the transport of anthropogenic CO2 and O2 from the surface to the interior of the sea, but accelerated the acidification of deep water in the basin; the rate of acidification in the deep water is higher than the rate at the surface. An emerging perturbation to the East Sea is an increase in the input of anthropogenic nitrogen. The concentration of surface nitrate (N) relative to that of phosphate (P) in the East Sea increased disproportionally over the period since 1980. The increase in the N concentration in the East Sea and adjacent seas has probably been driven primarily by deposition of pollutant nitrogen from atmospheric and riverine sources. A review of these critical results indicates that the East Sea provides insights into how future global warming and human perturbations might alter the nitrogen and carbon cycles and their interactions.

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Acknowledgments

This work was primarily supported by Mid-career Researcher Program (No. 2018R1A2A1A19019281) of the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning and by “Ieodo Ocean Research Station” project of the Korea Hydrographic and Oceanographic Agency, Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Environmental Science and Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Pohang, 37673, Korea

    Kitack Lee & Chang-Ho Lee

  2. Ocean Research Division, Korea Hydrographic and Oceanographic Agency, Busan, 49111, Korea

    Eunil Lee

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  1. Kitack Lee
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  2. Eunil Lee
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Correspondence to Kitack Lee .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Oceanography, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

    Chen-Tung Arthur Chen

  2. Center for Marine Environmental Studies, Ehime University, Matsuyama, Japan

    Xinyu Guo

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Lee, K., Lee, E., Lee, CH. (2020). Anthropogenic Perturbations of the Carbon and Nitrogen Cycles in the East Sea (Sea of Japan). In: Chen, CT., Guo, X. (eds) Changing Asia-Pacific Marginal Seas. Atmosphere, Earth, Ocean & Space. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4886-4_6

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