Research Article
Variability and Transport of Inorganic Carbon Dioxide in a Tropical Estuary
Ramos e Silva CA1-3*, Davalos PB2, Silva MP4, Miranda LB5 and Calado L61Department of Oceanography and Limnology, Rio Grande do Norte Federal University, Brazil
2Postgraduate Program in Dynamics of Oceans and Earth, Fluminense Federal University, Brazil
3Center for Study of Water, Biomass and Oil (NAB), Fluminense Federal University, Brazil
4Department of Geophysics, Rio Grande do Norte Federal University, Brazil
5Department of Physical Oceanography, São Paulo University, São Paulo, Brazil
6Admiral Paulo Moreira Marine Research Institute, Arraial do Cabo, RJ-28930-000, Brazil
- *Corresponding Author:
- Ramos e Silva CA
Department of Oceanography and Limnology
Rio Grande do Norte Federal University
Natal/RN, CEP 59075-970, Brazil
Tel: +55 21 99591040
E-mail: [email protected]
Received Date: January 09, 2017; Accepted Date: February 24, 2017; Published Date: March 03, 2017
Citation: Ramos e Silva CA, Davalos PB, Silva MP, Miranda LB, Calado L (2017) Variability and Transport of Inorganic Carbon Dioxide in a Tropical Estuary. J Oceanogr Mar Res 5: 155. doi: 10.4172/2572-3103.1000155
Copyright: © 2017 Ramos e Silva CA, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
| Peer-reviewed Full Article 
Abstract
Marine ecosystems are a known net source of greenhouse gases emissions. On the other hand, the geochemical fluxes, particularly from the developing countries estuarine areas, are poorly evaluated. In the present study, temporal and longitudinal water samplings were taken hourly and seasonally during full semidiurnal tidal-cycles, along the Caravelas estuary, located in northeast region of Brazil. It was analyzed the pH, total alkalinity, aragonite saturation state, calcite saturation state, dissolved inorganic carbon, aqueous CO2 and partial pressure of CO2 found in estuarine waters. Results showed that the total alkalinity values decreased from the estuary mouth up-river during the dry season, which reflects the low buffering capacity of river water. The estuarine total alkalinity and dissolved inorganic carbon fluxes were significantly higher in the dry season during the spring tide. The spring and neap tides were typically oversaturated with CO2 in both the dry and rainy seasons. The highest average values were found in the dry season for both the neap and spring tides, while the CO2 air-water flux values throughout the dry and rainy seasons, retained a positive variation range. Finally, the annual surface water flux of dissolved inorganic carbon revealed to be positive suggesting dissolved inorganic carbon exportation to coastal water.
