Air-sea CO 2 flux variability in frontal regions of the Southern Ocean from CARbon Interface OCean Atmosphere drifters

• Published in: Limnology and Oceanography
• Main Authors: Boutin, Jacqueline, Merlivat, Liliane, Hénocq, Claire, Martin, Nicolas, Sallée, Jean-Baptiste
• Other Authors: Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN), Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Paris (UP)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Paris (UP)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU), Laboratoire d'études en Géophysique et océanographie spatiales (LEGOS), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Météo France-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Météo France-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2008
• Subjects: [PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-GEO-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Geophysics [physics.geo-ph]; Southern Ocean; Pacific; Indian; North Atlantic Deep Water; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03481619; https://doi.org/10.4319/lo.2008.53.5_part_2.2062

International audience Nine CARbon Interface OCean Atmosphere (CARIOCA) drifters were deployed in the Southern Ocean (south of the subtropical front, STF) between 2001 and 2006. They recorded 65 months of measurements in all seasons between 57°S and 40°S. Hydrological fronts detected by altimetry indicate that one buoy explored the polar zone (PZ) of the Atlantic Ocean and the western Indian Ocean; the remaining buoys explored the northern andsouthern parts of the subantarctic zone (SAZ) from the mid–Indian Ocean (73°E) to the eastern Pacific Ocean (112°W). The air–sea CO$_2$ fluxes along the buoy trajectories are primarily driven by the spatial variability of the fugacity of CO$_2$ in seawater, fCO$_2$: in the SAZ, they vary between $-$1.1 and $-$4.2 mol$^{-2}$yr$^{-1}$, and the largest sinks occur close to the STF; in the PZ they vary between $-$1.6 and 0.6 mol m$^{-2}$ yr$^{-1}$. When spatially extrapolated over each region, the yearly fluxes amount to $-$0.8 Pg C yr$^{-1}$ in the SAZ and to $-$0.1 Pg C yr$^{-1}$ in the PZ, with very small seasonal variation. In winter–spring, the sea-surface salinity and sea-surface temperature indicate mixing with deep water close to the subantarctic front and an episodic signature of north Atlantic deep water close to the polar front (PF). These events are associated with fCO$_2$ close to equilibrium. On a small scale (of a few km), close to the STF, fCO$_2$ variations of 1–2 Pa (10–20 $\mu$atm) are associated with the presence of compensated mixed layers.