Autonomous Biogeochemical Floats Detect Significant Carbon Dioxide Outgassing in the High-Latitude Southern Ocean

Type Article
Date 2018-09
Language English
Author(s) Gray Alison R.1, Johnson Kenneth S.2, Bushinsky Seth M.3, Riser Stephen C.1, Russell Joellen L.4, Talley Lynne D.5, Wanninkhof Rik6, Williams Nancy L.ORCID7, Sarmiento Jorge L.3
Affiliation(s) 1 : Univ Washington, Sch Oceanog, Seattle, WA 98195 USA.
2 : Monterey Bay Aquarium Res Inst, Moss Landing, CA USA.
3 : Princeton Univ, Program Atmospher & Ocean Sci, Princeton, NJ 08544 USA.
4 : Univ Arizona, Dept Geosci, Tucson, AZ 85721 USA.
5 : Univ Calif San Diego, Scripps Inst Oceanog, La Jolla, CA 92093 USA.
6 : NOAA, Atlantic Oceanog & Meteorol Lab, Miami, FL 33149 USA.
7 : Oregon State Univ, Coll Earth Ocean & Atmospher Sci, Corvallis, OR 97331 USA.
Source Geophysical Research Letters (0094-8276) (Amer Geophysical Union), 2018-09 , Vol. 45 , N. 17 , P. 9049-9057
DOI 10.1029/2018GL078013
WOS© Times Cited 119
Keyword(s) air-sea carbon flux, SOCCOM
Abstract

Although the Southern Ocean is thought to account for a significant portion of the contemporary oceanic uptake of carbon dioxide (CO2), flux estimates in this region are based on sparse observations that are strongly biased toward summer. Here we present new estimates of Southern Ocean air-sea CO2 fluxes calculated with measurements from biogeochemical profiling floats deployed by the Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate Observations and Modeling project during 2014-2017. Compared to ship-based CO2 flux estimates, the float-based fluxes find significantly stronger outgassing in the zone around Antarctica where carbon-rich deep waters upwell to the surface ocean. Although interannual variability contributes, this difference principally stems from the lack of autumn and winter ship-based observations in this high-latitude region. These results suggest that our current understanding of the distribution of oceanic CO2 sources and sinks may need revision and underscore the need for sustained year-round biogeochemical observations in the Southern Ocean. Plain Language Summary The Southern Ocean absorbs a great deal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and helps to shape the climate of Earth. However, we do not have many observations from this part of the world, especially in winter, because it is remote and inhospitable. Here we present new observations from robotic drifting buoys that take measurements of temperature, salinity, and other water properties year-round. We use these data to estimate the amount of carbon dioxide being absorbed by the Southern Ocean. In the open water region close to Antarctica, the new estimates are remarkably different from the previous estimates, which were based on data collected from ships. We discuss some possible reasons that the float-based estimate is different and how this changes our understanding of how the ocean absorbs carbon dioxide.

Full Text
File Pages Size Access
Publisher's official version 9 981 KB Open access
Supporting Information S1 23 17 MB Open access
Top of the page

How to cite 

Gray Alison R., Johnson Kenneth S., Bushinsky Seth M., Riser Stephen C., Russell Joellen L., Talley Lynne D., Wanninkhof Rik, Williams Nancy L., Sarmiento Jorge L. (2018). Autonomous Biogeochemical Floats Detect Significant Carbon Dioxide Outgassing in the High-Latitude Southern Ocean. Geophysical Research Letters, 45(17), 9049-9057. Publisher's official version : https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL078013 , Open Access version : https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00673/78485/