Carbonate chemistry and air-sea CO2 flux at a fixed point in a NW Mediterranean Bay, Villefranche-sur-Mer, France

The purpose of the Service d'Observation de la Rade de Villefranche-sur-Mer (SO-RADE) is to study the temporal variability of hydrological conditions as well as the abundance and composition of holo- and meroplankton at a fixed station in the bay of Villefranche-sur-Mer, North West Mediterranean. The weekly data collected at this site, designated as "Point B (43° 41.10'N - 7° 18.94'E), since 1957 are recognized as a long-term time series describing the evolution of the hydrological conditions in a coastal environment. Since 2007, historical measurements of hydrological and biological conditions have been complemented by measurements of the CO2-carbonate system parameters. In this contribution we present CO2-carbonate system parameters and ancillary data for the period 2007-2010. The data are evaluated in the context of the physical and biogeochemical processes that contribute to the fluxes of CO2 between the ocean and atmosphere. Seasonal cycles of seawater pCO2 are controlled principally by variations in temperature, showing maxima in the summer and minima during the winters. Normalization of pCO2 to the mean seawater temperature (18oC) results in an apparent reversal of the seasonal cycle with maxima observed in the winters and minima in the summers, consistent with a control of pCO2 by primary productivity. Calculations of "instantaneous fluxes" of CO2 between the ocean and atmosphere show this area to be primarily a weak source of CO2 to the atmosphere during the summer and a weak sink during the winter and near neutral overall (range: -0.3 to +0.3 mmol CO2 m-2 h-1, average: 0.02 mmol CO2 m-2 h-1). We will also provide projections of errors incurred from the estimation of annualized fluxes of CO2 based on weekly measurements relative to daily and high-frequency (3 h) data such as those obtained at the Hawaii Kilo Nalu coastal time series station, which shows similar behavior to the Point B location despite significant differences in climate and hydrological conditions and the presence of a coral reef ecosystem.