Recent evidence for a strengthening CO₂ sink in the Southern Ocean from carbonate system measurements in the Drake Passage (2002-2015)
We present a 13 year (2002-2015) semimonthly time series of the partial pressure of CO₂ in surface water (pCO₂surf) and other carbonate system parameters from the Drake Passage. This record shows a clear increase in the magnitude of the sea-air pCO₂ gradient, indicating strengthening of the CO₂ sink...
Published in: | Geophysical Research Letters |
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Other Authors: | , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
John Wiley & Sons
2015
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://nldr.library.ucar.edu/repository/collections/OSGC-000-000-022-324 https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL065194 |
Summary: | We present a 13 year (2002-2015) semimonthly time series of the partial pressure of CO₂ in surface water (pCO₂surf) and other carbonate system parameters from the Drake Passage. This record shows a clear increase in the magnitude of the sea-air pCO₂ gradient, indicating strengthening of the CO₂ sink in agreement with recent large-scale analyses of the world oceans. The rate of increase in pCO₂surf north of the Antarctic Polar Front (APF) is similar to the atmospheric pCO₂ (pCO₂atm) trend, whereas the pCO₂surf increase south of the APF is slower than the pCO₂atm trend. The high-frequency surface observations indicate that an absence of a winter increase in total CO₂ (TCO₂) and cooling summer sea surface temperatures are largely responsible for increasing CO₂ uptake south of the APF. Muted winter trends in surface TCO₂ also provide temporary stability to the carbonate system that is already close to undersaturation with respect to aragonite. |
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