Global database of ratios of particulate organic carbon to thorium-234 in the ocean: improving estimates of the biological carbon pump

Puigcorbé, Viena; Masqué, Pere; Le Moigne, Frédéric A. C.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-1267-2020

Articles | Volume 12, issue 2

https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-1267-2020

© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-1267-2020

© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 12, issue 2

Data description paper

|

09 Jun 2020

Data description paper |

| 09 Jun 2020

Global database of ratios of particulate organic carbon to thorium-234 in the ocean: improving estimates of the biological carbon pump

Viena Puigcorbé, Pere Masqué, and Frédéric A. C. Le Moigne

Data sets

Global database of oceanic particulate organic carbon to particulate ²³⁴Th ratios V. Puigcorbé https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.911424

Short summary

The biological carbon pump is a mechanism by which the oceans capture atmospheric carbon dioxide thanks to microscopic marine algae. Quantifying its strength and efficiency is crucial to understand the global carbon budget and be able to forecast its trends. The radioactive pair ²³⁴Th : ²³⁸U has been extensively used for that purpose. This is a global compilation of carbon-to-²³⁴Th ratios (needed to convert the ²³⁴Th fluxes to carbon fluxes) that will contribute to improve our modeling efforts.