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Updated: Jul 29, 2025
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The Benthic Exchange of O2, N2 and Dissolved Nutrients Using Small Core Incubations
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Large-scale nutrient and carbon dynamics along the river-estuary-ocean continuum
Norbert Kamjunke1, Holger Brix2, Götz Flöser2
1Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department of River Ecology, Brückstraße 3a, D-39114 Magdeburg, Germany.
The Science of the Total Environment
|May 27, 2023
Summary
River Elbe
Area of Science:
- Environmental Science
- Oceanography
- Biogeochemistry
Background:
- River-estuary-coastal systems are vital for understanding terrestrial-to-ocean matter flux.
- Nutrient and carbon dynamics are key processes in these interconnected systems.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze nutrient and carbon dynamics in the River Elbe, estuary, and German Bight.
- To understand the flux of matter from land to the ocean using a novel sampling approach.
Main Methods:
- Lagrangian sampling in the River Elbe (580 km in 8 days).
- Estuarine investigation and raster sampling of the German Bight using three ships.
- Advanced calculation of nutrient fluxes in the tidal zone.
Main Results:
- The river showed phytoplankton growth, high oxygen, and pH, with declining nutrients.
- The estuary shifted to a heterotrophic system with phytoplankton die-off, low oxygen, high CO2, and nutrient release.
- Coastal waters had low phytoplankton and nutrient concentrations, with near-saturation oxygen and typical marine pH.
Conclusions:
- The study highlights the importance of understanding land-ocean fluxes under various conditions.
- The employed approach effectively illuminates nutrient and carbon dynamics in river-estuary-coastal systems.
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