We measured the radioactive carbon isotope 14C (radiocarbon) in various fractions of the carbonaceous aerosol sampled between February 2011 and March 2012 at the Cesar Observatory in the Netherlands. Based on the radiocarbon content in total carbon (TC), organic carbon (OC), water-insoluble organic carbon (WIOC), and elemental carbon (EC), we estimated the contribution of major sources to the c...

A two-dimensional model of a sediment column, with Darcy fluid flow, biological and thermal methane production, and permafrost and methane hydrate formation, is subjected to glacial–interglacial cycles in sea level, alternately exposing the continental shelf to the cold atmosphere during glacial times and immersing it in the ocean in interglacial times. The glacial cycles are followed by a “lon...

[1] A coupled physical-biological model of the waters off central Chile is used to investigate the nitrogen-phytoplankton-zooplankton response to ocean circulation driven by mean summertime winds. The circulation drives the upwelling of middepth water onto the continental shelf and reaches a quasistable rate between days 40 and 60 of the simulation. High-nutrient, low-phytoplankton biomass wate...

[1] Although shelf seas account for only 7% of the oceanic surface area, recent observations demonstrate that they host significant ocean-atmosphere CO2 fluxes. A mechanism implicated in driving a significant CO2 sink in the temperate shelf seas is the Continental Shelf Pump. Here we present an analysis of the impact of sea-level rise, and the consequent flooding of continental shelves, on the ...

Tidal dynamics affect Antarctic Bottom Water and Ice Shelf Water production in the southern Weddell Sea and the general circulation and mixing. In this region, tidal dynamics were found to be extremely sensitive both to the proximity of the continental shelf-slope break to the critical latitude ? crit and to the existence of a shelf break front. If the continental slope was not in the vicinity ...

Marine microbes play a key role and contribute largely to the global biogeochemical cycles. This study aims to explore microbial diversity from one such ecological hotspot, the continental shelf of Agatti Island. Sediment samples from various depths of the continental shelf were analyzed for bacterial diversity using deep sequencing technology along with the culturable approach. Additionally, i...

The Sunda region of south-east Asia comprises the Malay Peninsula and the islands of Java, Sumatra and Borneo, all of which lie on a shallow continental shelf projecting from Indochina. Pleistocene glacial cycles caused sea levels to drop repeatedly, exposing vast areas of the Sunda shelf and creating land bridges among the islands and mainland. These land bridges, the latest of which connected...

The United Nations Convention for the Law of the Sea, adopted in 1982, is the legal framework that sets out the rights and duties of States in the use and exploitation of the oceans. Article 76 through to article 85 in Part VI of the Convention is dedicated to provisions related to the continental shelf such as the determination and delineation of the outer limits of the extended continental sh...

[1] It has been suggested that continental shelf systems contribute disproportionately to the oceanic uptake of atmospheric CO2, but the magnitude of this flux and the relative contributions of different underlying mechanisms are poorly quantified. A biological continental shelf pump mechanism has been implied; however, the magnitude of this export depends on advective transport of carbon-rich ...