We analyze an extensive set of global coupled biogeochemical ocean circulation models. The focus is on the equatorial Pacific. In all simulations, which are consistent with observed standing stocks of relevant biogeochemical species at the surface, we find spuriously enhanced (reduced) macronutrient (oxygen) concentrations in the deep eastern equatorial Pacific. This modeling problem, apparently endemic to global coupled biogeochemical ocean circulation models, was coined " nutrient trapping" by Najjar et al. (1992). In contrast to Aumont et al. (1999), we argue that " nutrient trapping" is still a persistent problem, even in eddy-permitting models and, further, that the scale of the problem retards model projections of nitrogen cycling. In line with previous work, our results indicate that a deficient circulation is at the core of the problem rather than an admittedly poor quantitative understanding of biogeochemical cycles. More specifically, we present indications that " nutrient trapping" in models is a result of a spuriously damped Equatorial Intermediate (zonal) Current System and Equatorial Deep Jets-phenomenon which await a comprehensive understanding and have, to date, not been successfully simulated.

The fate of terrestrial organic matter brought to the coastal seas by rivers and its role in the global carbon cycle are still not very well known. Here the degradation rate of terrestrial dissolved organic carbon (DOCter) is studied in the Baltic Sea, a subarctic semienclosed sea, by releasing it as a tracer in a 3-D circulation model and applying linear decay constants. A good agreement with available observational data is obtained by parameterizing the degradation in two rather different ways: one by applying a decay time on the order of 10years to the whole pool of DOCter and one by dividing the DOCter into onerefractory pool and one pool subject to a decay time on the order of 1year. The choice ofparameterization has asignificant effect on where in the Baltic Sea the removal takes place, which can be of importance whenmodeling the full carbon cycle and the CO2 exchange with the atmosphere. In both cases the biogeochemical decayoperates on time scales less than the water residence time. Therefore, only a minor fraction of the DOCter reaches the North Sea, whereas approximately 80% is removed by internal sinks within the Baltic Sea. This further implies that DOCter mineralization is an important link in land-sea-atmosphere cycling of carbon in coastal and shelf seas that are heavily influenced by riverine DOC.

In this study, we used a large data set on nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) from Swedish boreal soils and lake waters to investigate N and C interactions between soils and lake waters. To link thousands of soils sites with hundreds of lake sites distributed all over Sweden, we gridded the data and found a significant relation between gridded C:N ratios of the organic soil layer and the ones of lake waters. We also found evidence of N deposition having depressed the C:N ratios of lake waters more than the ones of organic soil layers. In lake waters N strongly increased toward southern Sweden, mainly in the form of nitrate-nitrogen (NO(3)(-)-N) which we primarily attribute to an increased NO(3)(-)-N input from the boreal soils into the lakes. In contrast to N we found a much weaker direct relationship for C between soils and lake waters over Sweden. Instead, lake C was strongly related to lake morphometry and catchment characteristics. Our results indicate that large-scale variations in soil C content are not directly linked to C concentrations in lake waters, whereas soil N seems to leach in small amounts from the soils directly into the lakes in form of NO(3)(-)-N. Such differences in N and C interactions between soils and lake waters give important insights into the global biogeochemical cycling of N and C.

The emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) from inland waters are substantial on a global scale. Yet the fundamental question remains open which proportion of these CO2 emissions is induced by sunlight via photochemical mineralization of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), rather than by microbial respiration during DOC decomposition. Also, it is unknown on larger spatial and temporal scales how photochemical mineralization compares to other C fluxes in the inland water C cycle. We combined field and laboratory data with atmospheric radiative transfer modeling to parameterize a photochemical rate model for each day of the year 2009, for 1086 lakes situated between latitudes from 55 degrees N to 69 degrees N in Sweden. The sunlight-induced production of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) averaged 3.8 +/- 0.04 g C m(-2) yr(-1), which is a flux comparable in size to the organic carbon burial in the lake sediments. Countrywide, 151 +/- 1 kt C yr(-1) was produced by photochemical mineralization, corresponding to about 12% of total annual mean CO2 emissions from Swedish lakes. With a median depth of 3.2m, the lakes were generally deep enough that incoming, photochemically active photons were absorbed in the water column. This resulted in a linear positive relationship between DIC photoproduction and the incoming photon flux, which corresponds to the absorbed photons. Therefore, the slope of the regression line represents the wavelength-and depth-integrated apparent quantum yield of DIC photoproduction. We used this relationship to obtain a first estimate of DIC photoproduction in lakes and reservoirs worldwide. Global DIC photoproduction amounted to 13 and 35 Mt C yr(-1) under overcast and clear sky, respectively. Consequently, these directly sunlight-induced CO2 emissions contribute up to about one tenth to the global CO2 emissions from lakes and reservoirs, corroborating that microbial respiration contributes a substantially larger share than formerly thought, and generate annual C fluxes similar in magnitude to the C burial in natural lake sediments worldwide.