Dissolved inorganic carbon budgets in the eastern subpolar North Atlantic in the 2000s from in situ data

The subpolar North Atlantic (SPNA) is important in the global carbon cycle because of the deep water ventilation processes that lead to both high uptake of atmospheric CO2 and large inventories of anthropogenic CO2 (C-ant). Thus, it is crucial to understand its response to increasing anthropogenic pressures. In this work, the budgets of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), C-ant and natural DIC (DICnat) in the eastern SPNA in the 2000s, are jointly analyzed using in situ data. The DICnat budget is found to be in steady state, confirming a long-standing hypothesis from in situ data for the first time. The biological activity is driving the uptake of natural CO2 from the atmosphere. The C-ant increase in the ocean is solely responsible of the DIC storage rate which is explained by advection of C-ant from the subtropics (65%) and C-ant air-sea flux (35%). These results demonstrate that the C-ant is accumulating in the SPNA without affecting the natural carbon cycle.

Full Text

FilePagesSizeAccess
Publisher's official version
9446 Ko
Method for estimating the transport of DIC and Cant across the OVIDE section
2265 Ko
Table S1. Water mass properties at the Greenland-Iceland-Scotland Sills
1156 Ko
How to cite
Zunino Patricia, Lherminier Pascale, Mercier Herle, Padin Xose A., Rios Aida F., Perez Fiz F. (2015). Dissolved inorganic carbon budgets in the eastern subpolar North Atlantic in the 2000s from in situ data. Geophysical Research Letters. 42 (22). 9853-9861. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL066243, https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00313/42419/

Copy this text