Long-term trend of CO 2 and ocean acidification in the surface water of the Ulleung Basin, the East/Japan Sea inferred from the underway observational data

• Published in: Biogeosciences
• Main Authors: J.-Y. Kim, D.-J. Kang, T. Lee, K.-R. Kim
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2014
• Subjects: Ecology; QH540-549.5; Life; QH501-531; Geology; QE1-996.5; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-2443-2014; https://doaj.org/article/ebef3ab1a8dc4f0ab9882da96d255c9c

Anthropogenic carbon is responsible for both global warming and ocean acidification. Efforts are underway to understand the role of ocean in a high CO 2 world on a global context. However, marginal seas received little attention despite their significant contribution to biogeochemical cycles. Here we report the CO 2 increase and ocean acidification in the surface waters of the Ulleung Basin (UB) of the East/Japan Sea, and possible causes are discussed. Fourteen observations of surface f CO 2 were made in the period from 1995 to 2009. The contribution of temperature variation to the seasonality of f CO 2 was almost equivalent to the non-thermal effect in the UB. However, the difference of relative contribution with the season makes two seasonal peaks of f CO 2 in the surface water of the UB. Non-thermal effect contributed to the surface f CO 2 drawdown in summer, whereas the surface f CO 2 elevation in winter. The decadal trend of f CO 2 increment was estimated by harmonic analysis. The estimated rates of increase of f CO 2 were 1.8 ± 0.4 μatm yr −1 for the atmosphere and 2.7 ± 1.1 μatm yr −1 for the surface water. The ocean acidification trend, calculated from total alkalinity and f CO 2 , was estimated to be −0.03 ± 0.02 pH units decade −1 . These rates seem to be higher than observations at most other ocean time-series sites during the same period of time. Sustained observations are required to understand more accurate trend in this area.