An assessment of the Atlantic and Arctic sea-air CO2 fluxes, 1990-2009

Type Article
Date 2013
Language English
Author(s) Schuster U.1, McKinley G. A.2, Bates N.3, Chevallier F.4, Doney S. C.5, Fay A. R.2, Gonzalez-Davila Melchor6, Gruber N.7, Jones S.1, Krijnen J.1, Landschuetzer P.1, Lefevre N.8, Manizza M.9, Mathis J.3, Metzl N.11, Olsen A.12, Rios A. F.13, Roedenbeck C.14, Santana-Casiano J. M.6, Takahashi T.15, Wanninkhof R.16, Watson A. J.1
Affiliation(s) 1 : Univ E Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, Norfolk, England.
2 : Univ Wisconsin, Madison, WI USA.
3 : Bermuda Institute of Ocean Science, Bermuda
4 : LSCE IPSL, Paris, France.
5 : Woods Hole Oceanog Inst, Woods Hole, MA 02543 USA.
6 : Univ Las Palmas Gran Canaria, Las Palmas Gran Canaria, Gran Canaria, Spain.
7 : Swiss Fed Inst Technol, Zurich, Switzerland.
8 : Univ Paris 06, LOCEAN, Paris, France.
9 : Univ Calif San Diego, Scripps Inst Oceanog, La Jolla, CA 92093 USA.
10 : NOAA, Pacific Marine Environm Lab, Seattle, WA 98115 USA.
11 : UPMC, CNRS, LOCEAN IPSL, Paris, France.
12 : Uni Res, Bergen, Norway.
13 : IIM CSIC, Inst Invest Marinas, Vigo, Spain.
14 : Max Planck Inst Biogeochem, D-07745 Jena, Germany.
15 : Columbia Univ, Lamont Doherty Earth Observ, Palisades, NY USA.
16 : NOAA, Atlantic Oceanog & Meteorol Lab, Miami, FL 33149 USA.
Source Biogeosciences (1726-4170) (Copernicus Gesellschaft Mbh), 2013 , Vol. 10 , N. 1 , P. 607-627
DOI 10.5194/bg-10-607-2013
WOS© Times Cited 111
Note Special issues : REgional Carbon Cycle Assessment and Processes (RECCAP) Editor(s): J. Canadell, P. Ciais, C. Sabine, and F. Joos
Abstract The Atlantic and Arctic Oceans are critical components of the global carbon cycle. Here we quantify the net sea-air CO2 flux, for the first time, across different methodologies for consistent time and space scales for the Atlantic and Arctic basins. We present the long-term mean, seasonal cycle, interannual variability and trends in sea-air CO2 flux for the period 1990 to 2009, and assign an uncertainty to each. We use regional cuts from global observations and modeling products, specifically a pCO(2)-based CO2 flux climatology, flux estimates from the inversion of oceanic and atmospheric data, and results from six ocean biogeochemical models. Additionally, we use basin-wide flux estimates from surface ocean pCO(2) observations based on two distinct methodologies. Our estimate of the contemporary sea-air flux of CO2 (sum of anthropogenic and natural components) by the Atlantic between 40 degrees S and 79 degrees N is -0.49 +/- 0.05 Pg C yr(-1), and by the Arctic it is -0.12 +/- 0.06 Pg C yr(-1), leading to a combined sea-air flux of -0.61 +/- 0.06 Pg C yr(-1) for the two decades (negative reflects ocean uptake). We do find broad agreement amongst methodologies with respect to the seasonal cycle in the subtropics of both hemispheres, but not elsewhere. Agreement with respect to detailed signals of interannual variability is poor, and correlations to the North Atlantic Oscillation are weaker in the North Atlantic and Arctic than in the equatorial region and southern subtropics. Linear trends for 1995 to 2009 indicate increased uptake and generally correspond between methodologies in the North Atlantic, but there is disagreement amongst methodologies in the equatorial region and southern subtropics.
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Schuster U., McKinley G. A., Bates N., Chevallier F., Doney S. C., Fay A. R., Gonzalez-Davila Melchor, Gruber N., Jones S., Krijnen J., Landschuetzer P., Lefevre N., Manizza M., Mathis J., Metzl N., Olsen A., Rios A. F., Roedenbeck C., Santana-Casiano J. M., Takahashi T., Wanninkhof R., Watson A. J. (2013). An assessment of the Atlantic and Arctic sea-air CO2 fluxes, 1990-2009. Biogeosciences, 10(1), 607-627. Publisher's official version : https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-607-2013 , Open Access version : https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00153/26409/