Global air-sea CO2 exchange flux since 1980s: results from CMIP6 Earth System Models

• Published in: Journal of Oceanology and Limnology
• Main Authors: Qu, Baoxiao, Song, Jinming, Li, Xuegang, Yuan, Huamao, Zhang, Kun, Xu, Suqing
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: SCIENCE PRESS 2022
• Subjects: air-sea CO2 flux; Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6); Earth System Model (ESM); long-term average; spatial-temporal variability; Marine & Freshwater Biology; Oceanography; Limnology; Pacific; Southern Ocean
• Online Access: http://ir.qdio.ac.cn/handle/337002/179458; http://ir.qdio.ac.cn/handle/337002/179459; https://doi.org/10.1007/s00343-021-1096-8

The ocean could profoundly modulate the ever-increasing atmospheric CO2 by air-sea CO2 exchange process, which is also able to cause significant changes of physical and biogeochemical properties in return. In this study, we assessed the long-term average and spatial-temporal variability of global air-sea CO2 exchange flux (FCO2) since 1980s basing on the results of 18 Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) Earth System Models (ESMs). Our findings indicate that the CMIP6 ESMs simulated global CO2 sink in recent three decades ranges from 1.80 to 2.24 Pg C/a, which is coincidence with the results of cotemporaneous observations. What's more, the CMIP6 ESMs consistently show that the global oceanic CO2 sink has gradually intensified since 1980s as well as the observations. This study confirms the simulated FCO2 could reach agreements with the observations in the aspect of primary climatological characteristics, however, the simulation skills of CIMP6 ESMs in diverse open-sea biomes are unevenness. None of the 18 CMIP6 ESMs could reproduce the observed FCO2 increasement in the central-eastern tropical Pacific and the midlatitude Southern Ocean. Deficiencies of some CMIP6 ESMs in reproducing the atmospheric pressure systems of the Southern Hemisphere and the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) mode of the tropical Pacific are probably the major causes.