The ocean carbon sinks and climate change

The oceans act as major carbon dioxide sinks, greatly influencing global climate. Knowing how these sinks evolve would advance our understanding of climate dynamics. We construct a conceptual box model for the oceans to predict the temporal and spatial evolution of CO2 of each ocean, and the time-ev...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Chaos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science
Main Authors: Sunny, Eros M., Ashok, Balakrishnan, Balakrishnan, Janaki, Kurths, Jürgen
Other Authors: Science and Engineering Research Board
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: AIP Publishing 2023
Subjects:
Applied Mathematics
General Physics and Astronomy
Mathematical Physics
Statistical and Nonlinear Physics
Southern Ocean
North Atlantic
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/5.0164196
https://pubs.aip.org/aip/cha/article-pdf/doi/10.1063/5.0164196/18182994/103134_1_5.0164196.pdf
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Summary:The oceans act as major carbon dioxide sinks, greatly influencing global climate. Knowing how these sinks evolve would advance our understanding of climate dynamics. We construct a conceptual box model for the oceans to predict the temporal and spatial evolution of CO2 of each ocean, and the time-evolution of their salinities. Surface currents, deep water flows, freshwater influx, and major fluvial contributions are considered, as also the effect of changing temperature with time. We uncover the strongest carbon uptake to be from the Southern Ocean, followed by the Atlantic. The North Atlantic evolves into the most saline ocean with time and increasing temperatures. The Amazon River is found to have significant effects on CO2 sequestration trends. An alternative flow scenario of the Amazon is investigated, giving interesting insights into the global climate in the Miocene epoch.

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