Decadal evolution of carbon sink within a strong bloom area in the subantarctic zone

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Lourantou, Anna, Metzl, Nicolas
• Other Authors: Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2011
• Subjects: [SDU.STU.GP]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Geophysics [physics.geo-ph]; [PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-GEO-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Geophysics [physics.geo-ph]; Southern Ocean
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-00755350; https://hal.science/hal-00755350/document; https://hal.science/hal-00755350/file/2011GL049614.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1029/2011GL049614

International audience The fate of the Southern Ocean atmospheric CO 2 sink is under question. Here we assess seasonal to decadal changes of surface f CO 2 within an extended sink area along the track between Kerguelen and Amsterdam islands in the subantarctic zone. Data from 17 oceanographic cruises were used, from 1991 to 2011 and two distinct regions were examined, separated by the Subantarctic Front (SAF). The region south of the SAF displays a strong summer phytoplankton bloom of up to -28 mmol C m -2 d -1 within a calm area, constrained by physics and topography. On an annual basis, this region is a 6-fold more important sink than that deduced from Takahashi climatology, highlighting the importance of key-areas separate examination before proceeding to spatial integration. Our data point towards a decadal decline of the CO 2 sink in the Southern part of the SAF, most probably due to both warming and less Fe input to surface waters from reduced water mixing.