Progress and Prospect of the Response of Carbon Cycling to the Changing Environment in the Pacific Arctic Region

With the demand of global carbon sink increase, the Arctic Ocean is expected as a major potential carbon sink after the retreating of sea ice. The Pacific Arctic Region, characterized with the high carbon fixation and large carbon flux into the deep-ocean for sequestration in the Chukchi Sea and adjacent waters, makes substantial contributions to carbon cycling in the entire Arctic Ocean. 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. This paper focuses on the response of the carbon cycling in the Chukchi Sea and adjacent waters (i.e., the oceanic uptake of atmospheric CO₂, biological carbon fixation, and the continental shelf pump that carries the Pacific-sourced carbon from the shelf region to the deep sea after biogeochemical processes occurring over the shelf) to the changing Arctic, and puts forward the key scientific issues that need to be resolved in the future.