Tidal mixing of estuarine and coastal waters in the western English Channel is a control on spatial and temporal variability in seawater CO2

Surface ocean carbon dioxide (CO2) measurements are used to compute the oceanic air-sea CO2 flux. The CO2 flux component from rivers and estuaries is uncertain due to the high spatial and seasonal heterogeneity of CO2 in coastal waters. Existing high-quality CO2 instrumentation predominantly utilises showerhead and percolating style equilibrators optimised for open-ocean observations. The intervals between measurements made with such instrumentation make it difficult to resolve the fine-scale spatial variability of surface water CO2 at timescales relevant to the high frequency variability in estuarine and coastal environments. Here we present a novel dataset with unprecedented frequency and spatial resolution transects made at the Western Channel Observatory in the south-west of the UK from June to September 2016, using a fast-response seawater CO2 system. Novel observations were made along the estuarine- coastal continuum at different stages of the tide and reveal distinct spatial patterns in the surface water CO2 fugacity (fCO(2)) at different stages of the tidal cycle. Changes in salinity and JCO(2) were closely correlated at all stages of the tidal cycle and suggest that the mixing of oceanic and river-ine endmembers partially determines the variations in JCO(2). The correlation between salinity and JCO(2) was different in Cawsand Bay, which could be due to enhanced gas exchange or to enhanced biological activity in the region. The observations demonstrate the complex dynamics determining spatial and temporal patterns of salinity and fCO(2) in the region. Spatial variations in observed surface salinity were used to val- idate the output of a regional high-resolution hydrodynamic model. The model enables a novel estimate of the air-sea CO2 flux in the estuarine-coastal zone. Air-sea CO2 flux variability in the estuarine-coastal boundary region is influenced by the state of the tide because of strong CO2 outgassing from the river plume. The observations and model output demonstrate that undersampling the complex tidal and mixing processes characteristic of estuarine and coastal environment biases quantification of air-sea CO2 fluxes in coastal waters. The results provide a mechanism to support critical national and regional policy implementation by reducing uncertainty in carbon budgets.

Automated summary

In this study, a fast-response seawater CO2 system was used to measure CO2 with high frequency and spatial resolution at the Western Channel Observatory in the UK. The observations reveal distinct spatial patterns of surface water CO2 at different stages of the tidal cycle along the estuarine-coastal continuum. The state of the tide was found to influence the variability of air-sea CO2 flux in the estuarine-coastal boundary region.