| Summary: | The oceanic storage of anthropogenic CO (C) that humans have emitted into the atmosphere has been pivotal for counteracting climate change. Yet multi-decadal trends in the ocean interior storage of C have not been assessed at global scale. Here, we determine storage changes of C by applying the eMLR(C*) regression method to ocean interior observations collected between 1989 and 2020. We find that the global ocean storage of C grew by 29 ± 3 Pg C dec and 27 ± 3 Pg C dec (±1σ) from 1994 to 2004 and 2004 to 2014, respectively. Although the two growth rates are not significantly different, they imply a reduction of the oceanic uptake fraction of the anthropogenic emissions from 36 ± 4 % to 27 ± 3 % from the first to the second decade. We attribute this reduction to a decrease of the ocean buffer capacity and changes in ocean circulation. In the Atlantic Ocean, the maximum storage rate shifted from the Northern to the Southern Hemisphere, plausibly caused by a weaker formation rate of North Atlantic Deep Waters and an intensified ventilation of mode and intermediate waters in the Southern Hemisphere. Between 1994 and 2004, the oceanic C accumulation exceeded the net air-sea flux by 8 ± 4 Pg C dec, suggesting a loss of natural carbon from the ocean during this decade. Our results reveal a substantial sensitivity of the ocean carbon sink to climate variability and change.
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