Sea-air CO2 fluxes in the Southern Ocean for the period 1990-2009 ...

• Main Authors: Lenton, Andrew, Tilbrook, Bronte D., Law, Rachel M., Bakker, Dorothee C.E., Doney, Scott C., Gruber, Nicolas, Ishii, Masao, Hoppema, M., Lovenduski, Nicole S., McNeil, Ben, Metzl, Nicolas, Mikaloff Fletcher, Sara E., Monteiro, Pedro, Rödenbeck, Christian, Sweeney, Colm, Takahashi, T.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: ETH Zurich 2013
• Subjects: Southern Ocean
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000070775; http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/70775

The Southern Ocean (44–75° S) plays a critical role in the global carbon cycle, yet remains one of the most poorly sampled ocean regions. Different approaches have been used to estimate sea–air CO2 fluxes in this region: synthesis of surface ocean observations, ocean biogeochemical models, and atmospheric and ocean inversions. As part of the RECCAP (REgional Carbon Cycle Assessment and Processes) project, we combine these different approaches to quantify and assess the magnitude and variability in Southern Ocean sea–air CO2 fluxes between 1990–2009. Using all models and inversions (26), the integrated median annual sea–air CO2 flux of −0.42 ± 0.07 Pg C yr−1 for the 44–75° S region, is consistent with the −0.27 ± 0.13 Pg C yr−1 calculated using surface observations. The circumpolar region south of 58° S has a small net annual flux (model and inversion median: −0.04 ± 0.07 Pg C yr−1 and observations: +0.04 ± 0.02 Pg C yr−1), with most of the net annual flux located in the 44 to 58° S circumpolar band (model ... : Biogeosciences, 10 (6) ...