Estuaries regulate transport of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from land to ocean. Export of terrestrial DOC from coastal watersheds is exacerbated by increasing major rainfall and storm events and human activities, leading to pulses of DOC that are shunted through rivers downstream to estuaries. Despite an upward trend of extreme events, the fate of the pulsed terrestrial DOC in estuaries remains unclear. We analyzed the effects of seven major tropical cyclones (TC) from 1999 to 2017 on the quantity and fate of DOC in the Neuse River Estuary (NC, USA). Significant TC‐induced increases in DOC were observed throughout the estuary; the increase lasting from around 50 d at head‐of‐tide to over 6 months in lower estuary. Our results suggest that pulsed terrestrial DOC associated with TCs temporarily overwhelms the estuarine filter's abiotic and biotic degradation capacity under such high flow events, enhancing the shunt of terrestrial carbon to the coastal ocean.

中文翻译：

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重大暴风雨过后，河口环境中的有机碳脉冲升高

河口负责管理从陆地到海洋的溶解性有机碳（DOC）的运输。降雨增加，暴雨和人类活动增加，加剧了沿海集水区的陆地DOC出口，导致DOC脉冲通过下游河流进入河口。尽管极端事件呈上升趋势，但脉冲河地面DOC在河口的命运仍不清楚。我们分析了1999年至2017年期间七个主要热带气旋（TC）对Neuse河口（美国NC）的DOC数量和命运的影响。在整个河口观察到TC引起的TC显着增加。从潮汐开始的约50 d持续增加到河口较低的6个月以上。我们的结果表明，与TC相关的脉冲地面DOC暂时使河口过滤器不堪重负。