The Influence of Ocean Topography on the Upwelling of Carbon in the Southern Ocean
The physical circulation of the Southern Ocean sets the surface concentration and thus air-sea exchange of CO 2 . However, we have a limited understanding of the three-dimensional circulation that brings deep carbon-rich waters to the surface. Here, we introduce and analyze a novel high-resolution o...
| Published in: | Geophysical Research Letters |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , |
| Language: | unknown |
| Published: |
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1830752 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1830752 https://doi.org/10.1029/2021gl095088 |
| Summary: | The physical circulation of the Southern Ocean sets the surface concentration and thus air-sea exchange of CO 2 . However, we have a limited understanding of the three-dimensional circulation that brings deep carbon-rich waters to the surface. Here, we introduce and analyze a novel high-resolution ocean model simulation with active biogeochemistry and online Lagrangian particle tracking. We focus our attention on a subset of particles with high dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) that originate below 1,000 m and eventually upwell into the near-surface layer (upper 200 m). We find that 71% of the DIC-enriched water upwelling across 1,000 m is concentrated near topographic features, which occupy just 33% of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Once particles upwell to the near-surface layer, they exhibit relatively uniform pCO 2 levels and DIC decorrelation timescales, regardless of their origin. Furthermore, our results show that Southern Ocean bathymetry plays a key role in delivering carbon-rich waters to the surface. |
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