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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">EGUsphere</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>EGUsphere</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub"></issn>
<publisher><publisher-name>Copernicus Publications</publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/egusphere-2026-3235</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Thermal regulation of benthic fluxes in temperate estuaries</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Bialik</surname>
<given-names>Or Mordechay</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1915-7297</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Sisma-Ventura</surname>
<given-names>Guy</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research, National Institute of Oceanography, 310800 Haifa, Israel</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, University of Münster, Corrensstr. 24, 48149 Münster, Germany</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>18</day>
<month>06</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2026</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>17</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Or Mordechay Bialik</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-3235/">This article is available from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-3235/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-3235/egusphere-2026-3235.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-3235/egusphere-2026-3235.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>The effects of short-term heatwave extremes on biogeochemical cycling and fluxes in a temperate estuary of a semi-dry climate were studied using an experimental setup of temperature-controlled benthic incubations. The results demonstrated a strong thermal effect, notably under extreme warming events, for shifts in exchanges across the sediment-water interface. Extreme heatwave conditions (+5 &amp;deg;C of the seasonal mean) boosted acidification, hypoxia, and ammonification, due to accelerated remineralization rates, resulting in strong effluxes of NH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;, Si(OH)&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;, and PO&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; to the overlying water. These excessive nutrient loads may increase eutrophication risk via runoff or tidal action, specifically in adjacent oligotrophic coastal waters. CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; production rates reached ~4000 &amp;micro;atm under extreme hypoxia and acidification, 2.3-fold higher than the ambient rate, with a maximal flux of ~27.0 mmol m-2 d-1. Hence, our experiments show that marine heatwaves amplify CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; emissions while reducing the CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; buffering capacity of temperate estuaries. It emphasizes temperate estuaries as highly sensitive ecosystems to climate change.</p>
</abstract>
<counts><page-count count="17"/></counts>
<funding-group>
<award-group id="gs1">
<funding-source>Ministry of Education, Israel</funding-source>
<award-id>Council for Higher Education in Israel, Planning and Budgeting Committee  - MARBEDS</award-id>
</award-group>
</funding-group>
</article-meta>
</front>
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