Interannual variability of air-sea fluxes of carbon dioxide and oxygen
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, 2002. This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. Includes bibliographical references (p....
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ftmit:oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/16824 2023-06-11T04:15:00+02:00 Interannual variability of air-sea fluxes of carbon dioxide and oxygen McKinley, Galen Anile, 1973- John C. Marshall. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences. 2002 169 p. application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/16824 http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/16824 eng eng Massachusetts Institute of Technology http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/16824 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/16824 51042777 M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/16824 http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 Earth Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences Thesis 2002 ftmit 2023-05-29T07:25:51Z Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, 2002. This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. Includes bibliographical references (p. 161-169). The currently observed increase in atmospheric CO2 due anthropogenic emissions is substantially slowed by natural processes that incorporate CO2 into the terrestrial biota and the ocean. Year-to-year changes in the CO2 growth rate that exceed variations in the fossil fuel source indicate a significant variability in these global CO2 sinks. However, the enormous complexity of the terrestrial and oceanic biogeochemical systems that absorb atmospheric CO2 makes these sinks extremely difficult to understand and precisely quantify. Many techniques, including the interpretation of the relative changes in atmospheric CO2 and O2/N2, ocean modeling, and atmospheric data inversions, have been employed to estimate the mean and variability of global CO2 sinks. However, uncertainty remains large. The goal of this thesis is to improve understanding of global CO2 sinks by considering (1) the error in the atmospheric O2/N2 partitioning method due to the neglect of interannual variability in the air-sea fluxes of 02, and (2) the interannual variability of the ocean CO2 sink. (cont.) A global, high-resolution ocean general circulation model is used to estimate the magnitude and understand the mechanisms of interannual variability in air-sea fluxes of both CO2 and 02. I find that the global variability in the fluxes of both gases are dominantly forced by large-scale physical processes governing upper ocean dynamics, particularly El Nifio / Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and, for 02, the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Estimates of the extremes of CO2 and 02 flux variability for the period 1980-1998 are +/-0.5x1015 grams Carbon/yr (PgC/yr) and -70/+100x1012 mol/yr (Tmol/yr), respectively. Global 02 flux variability ... Thesis North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation DSpace@MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) |
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English |
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Earth Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences |
spellingShingle |
Earth Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences McKinley, Galen Anile, 1973- Interannual variability of air-sea fluxes of carbon dioxide and oxygen |
topic_facet |
Earth Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences |
description |
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, 2002. This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. Includes bibliographical references (p. 161-169). The currently observed increase in atmospheric CO2 due anthropogenic emissions is substantially slowed by natural processes that incorporate CO2 into the terrestrial biota and the ocean. Year-to-year changes in the CO2 growth rate that exceed variations in the fossil fuel source indicate a significant variability in these global CO2 sinks. However, the enormous complexity of the terrestrial and oceanic biogeochemical systems that absorb atmospheric CO2 makes these sinks extremely difficult to understand and precisely quantify. Many techniques, including the interpretation of the relative changes in atmospheric CO2 and O2/N2, ocean modeling, and atmospheric data inversions, have been employed to estimate the mean and variability of global CO2 sinks. However, uncertainty remains large. The goal of this thesis is to improve understanding of global CO2 sinks by considering (1) the error in the atmospheric O2/N2 partitioning method due to the neglect of interannual variability in the air-sea fluxes of 02, and (2) the interannual variability of the ocean CO2 sink. (cont.) A global, high-resolution ocean general circulation model is used to estimate the magnitude and understand the mechanisms of interannual variability in air-sea fluxes of both CO2 and 02. I find that the global variability in the fluxes of both gases are dominantly forced by large-scale physical processes governing upper ocean dynamics, particularly El Nifio / Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and, for 02, the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Estimates of the extremes of CO2 and 02 flux variability for the period 1980-1998 are +/-0.5x1015 grams Carbon/yr (PgC/yr) and -70/+100x1012 mol/yr (Tmol/yr), respectively. Global 02 flux variability ... |
author2 |
John C. Marshall. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences. |
format |
Thesis |
author |
McKinley, Galen Anile, 1973- |
author_facet |
McKinley, Galen Anile, 1973- |
author_sort |
McKinley, Galen Anile, 1973- |
title |
Interannual variability of air-sea fluxes of carbon dioxide and oxygen |
title_short |
Interannual variability of air-sea fluxes of carbon dioxide and oxygen |
title_full |
Interannual variability of air-sea fluxes of carbon dioxide and oxygen |
title_fullStr |
Interannual variability of air-sea fluxes of carbon dioxide and oxygen |
title_full_unstemmed |
Interannual variability of air-sea fluxes of carbon dioxide and oxygen |
title_sort |
interannual variability of air-sea fluxes of carbon dioxide and oxygen |
publisher |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
publishDate |
2002 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/16824 http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/16824 |
genre |
North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation |
op_relation |
http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/16824 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/16824 51042777 |
op_rights |
M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/16824 http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 |
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