Water column organic carbon in a Pacific marginal sea (Strait of Georgia, Canada)

Marginal seas provide a globally important interface between land and interior ocean where organic carbon is metabolized, buried or exported. The trophic status of these seas varies seasonally, depending on river flow, primary production, the proportion of dissolved to particulate organic carbon and other factors. In the Strait of Georgia, about 80% of the organic carbon in the water column is dissolved. Organic carbon enters at the surface, with river discharge and primary production, particularly during spring and summer. The amount of organic carbon passing through the Strait (∼16 × 108 kg C yr−1) is almost twice the standing inventory (∼9.4 × 108 kg C). The organic carbon that is oxidized within the Strait (∼5.6 × 108 kg yr−1) presumably supports microbial food webs or participates in chemical or photochemical reactions, while that which is exported (7.2 × 108 kg yr−1) represents a local source of organic carbon to the open ocean.