Key Scientific Problems and Challenges of Studying Carbon Cycle Mechanism in Pacific Sector of the Arctic

Challenged by the enormous pressure to reduce the global carbon emission, it is expected that the Arctic Ocean could absorb additional atmospheric CO₂ with the retreating of sea-ice. The Chukchi Sea and adjacent waters, characterized by the highest carbon fixation in the global ocean and large carbon flux into the deep-ocean for sequestration, make substantial contributions to carbon cycling in the entire Arctic Ocean. Understanding the response mechanism of carbon cycling in this region to the rapidly changing environment is the foundation for the prediction of carbon sink in the Arctic Ocean. However, the response of carbon absorption and storage to climate change is still controversial, and the main controlling factors of the carbon cycle process remain unclear.Thus, to establish high-resolution coupled ocean-ice-carbon models can explore the influence of sea ice retreat on atmospheric CO₂ and the vertical sinking carbon fluxes in Chukchi Sea, estimate the effectiveness of growing inflow and slope upwelling on carbon sink/source patterns, discuss the response of deep-ocean carbon sequestration to the changing environment, and evaluate the effectiveness of continental shelf pump in the Chukchi Sea as well as its role in the global carbon sink. Based on the challenge for the research of the Chukchi Sea carbon cycle research with rapidly changing climate, the basic ideas of establishing Arctic Ocean carbon cycling model as well as its key scientific issues to be resolved were proposed.