Assessing carbon dioxide removal through global and regional ocean alkalinization under high and low emission pathways
Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) levels continue to rise, increasing the risk of severe impacts on the Earth system, and on the ecosystem services that it provides. Artificial ocean alkalinization (AOA) is capable of reducing atmospheric CO 2 concentrations and surface warming and addressing ocean...
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ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:esd62787 2023-05-15T17:50:00+02:00 Assessing carbon dioxide removal through global and regional ocean alkalinization under high and low emission pathways Lenton, Andrew Matear, Richard J. Keller, David P. Scott, Vivian Vaughan, Naomi E. 2019-01-07 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-9-339-2018 https://esd.copernicus.org/articles/9/339/2018/ eng eng doi:10.5194/esd-9-339-2018 https://esd.copernicus.org/articles/9/339/2018/ eISSN: 2190-4987 Text 2019 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-9-339-2018 2020-07-20T16:23:20Z Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) levels continue to rise, increasing the risk of severe impacts on the Earth system, and on the ecosystem services that it provides. Artificial ocean alkalinization (AOA) is capable of reducing atmospheric CO 2 concentrations and surface warming and addressing ocean acidification. Here, we simulate global and regional responses to alkalinity (ALK) addition (0.25 PmolALK yr −1 ) over the period 2020–2100 using the CSIRO-Mk3L-COAL Earth System Model, under high (Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5; RCP8.5) and low (RCP2.6) emissions. While regionally there are large changes in alkalinity associated with locations of AOA, globally we see only a very weak dependence on where and when AOA is applied. On a global scale, while we see that under RCP2.6 the carbon uptake associated with AOA is only ∼ 60 % of the total, under RCP8.5 the relative changes in temperature are larger, as are the changes in pH (140 %) and aragonite saturation state (170 %). The simulations reveal AOA is more effective under lower emissions, therefore the higher the emissions the more AOA is required to achieve the same reduction in global warming and ocean acidification. Finally, our simulated AOA for 2020–2100 in the RCP2.6 scenario is capable of offsetting warming and ameliorating ocean acidification increases at the global scale, but with highly variable regional responses. Text Ocean acidification Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Earth System Dynamics 9 2 339 357 |
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Copernicus Publications: E-Journals |
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English |
description |
Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) levels continue to rise, increasing the risk of severe impacts on the Earth system, and on the ecosystem services that it provides. Artificial ocean alkalinization (AOA) is capable of reducing atmospheric CO 2 concentrations and surface warming and addressing ocean acidification. Here, we simulate global and regional responses to alkalinity (ALK) addition (0.25 PmolALK yr −1 ) over the period 2020–2100 using the CSIRO-Mk3L-COAL Earth System Model, under high (Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5; RCP8.5) and low (RCP2.6) emissions. While regionally there are large changes in alkalinity associated with locations of AOA, globally we see only a very weak dependence on where and when AOA is applied. On a global scale, while we see that under RCP2.6 the carbon uptake associated with AOA is only ∼ 60 % of the total, under RCP8.5 the relative changes in temperature are larger, as are the changes in pH (140 %) and aragonite saturation state (170 %). The simulations reveal AOA is more effective under lower emissions, therefore the higher the emissions the more AOA is required to achieve the same reduction in global warming and ocean acidification. Finally, our simulated AOA for 2020–2100 in the RCP2.6 scenario is capable of offsetting warming and ameliorating ocean acidification increases at the global scale, but with highly variable regional responses. |
format |
Text |
author |
Lenton, Andrew Matear, Richard J. Keller, David P. Scott, Vivian Vaughan, Naomi E. |
spellingShingle |
Lenton, Andrew Matear, Richard J. Keller, David P. Scott, Vivian Vaughan, Naomi E. Assessing carbon dioxide removal through global and regional ocean alkalinization under high and low emission pathways |
author_facet |
Lenton, Andrew Matear, Richard J. Keller, David P. Scott, Vivian Vaughan, Naomi E. |
author_sort |
Lenton, Andrew |
title |
Assessing carbon dioxide removal through global and regional ocean alkalinization under high and low emission pathways |
title_short |
Assessing carbon dioxide removal through global and regional ocean alkalinization under high and low emission pathways |
title_full |
Assessing carbon dioxide removal through global and regional ocean alkalinization under high and low emission pathways |
title_fullStr |
Assessing carbon dioxide removal through global and regional ocean alkalinization under high and low emission pathways |
title_full_unstemmed |
Assessing carbon dioxide removal through global and regional ocean alkalinization under high and low emission pathways |
title_sort |
assessing carbon dioxide removal through global and regional ocean alkalinization under high and low emission pathways |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-9-339-2018 https://esd.copernicus.org/articles/9/339/2018/ |
genre |
Ocean acidification |
genre_facet |
Ocean acidification |
op_source |
eISSN: 2190-4987 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/esd-9-339-2018 https://esd.copernicus.org/articles/9/339/2018/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-9-339-2018 |
container_title |
Earth System Dynamics |
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9 |
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2 |
container_start_page |
339 |
op_container_end_page |
357 |
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1766156570939359232 |