Anthropogenic CO2 in the Atlantic Ocean ...

• Main Author: Gruber, Nicolas
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: University of Bern 1998
• Subjects: North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.48350/158807; https://boris-portal.unibe.ch/handle/20.500.12422/43410

The anthropogenic CO2 in the Atlantic Ocean is separated from the large natural variability of dissolved inorganic carbon using the method developed by Gruber et al. [1996]. Surface concentrations of anthropogenic CO2 are found to be highest in the tropical to subtropical regions and to decrease toward the high latitudes. They are very close to what is expected from thermodynamic considerations assuming that the surface ocean followed the atmospheric CO2 perturbation. Highest specific inventories (inventory per square meter) of anthropogenic CO2 occur in the subtropical convergence zones. Large differences exist between the North and South Atlantic high latitudes: In the North Atlantic, anthropogenic CO2 has already invaded deeply into the interior; north of 50°N it has even reached the bottom. By contrast, waters south of 50°S contain relatively little anthropogenic CO2, and hence specific inventories are very low. An anthropogenic CO2 inventory of about 22 ± 5 Gt C is estimated for the Atlantic north of ...