Saturation of the Southern Ocean CO 2 Sink Due to Recent Climate Change
International audience Based on observed atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) concentration and an inverse method, we estimate that the Southern Ocean sink of CO 2 has weakened between 1981 and 2004 by 0.08 petagrams of carbon per year per decade relative to the trend expected from the large increase...
Published in: | Science |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
Other Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
HAL CCSD
2007
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://hal.science/hal-00770694 https://doi.org/10.1126/SCIENCE.1136188 |
Summary: | International audience Based on observed atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) concentration and an inverse method, we estimate that the Southern Ocean sink of CO 2 has weakened between 1981 and 2004 by 0.08 petagrams of carbon per year per decade relative to the trend expected from the large increase in atmospheric CO 2 . We attribute this weakening to the observed increase in Southern Ocean winds resulting from human activities, which is projected to continue in the future. Consequences include a reduction of the efficiency of the Southern Ocean sink of CO 2 in the short term (about 25 years) and possibly a higher level of stabilization of atmospheric CO 2 on a multicentury time scale. |
---|