Identifying the biological control of the annual and multi-year variations in South Atlantic air–sea CO2 flux
The accumulation of anthropogenic CO2 emissions in the atmosphere has been buffered by the absorption of CO2 by the global ocean, which acts as a net CO2 sink. The CO2 flux between the atmosphere and the ocean, which collectively results in the oceanic carbon sink, is spatially and temporally variab...
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Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union
2022
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Online Access: | https://plymsea.ac.uk/id/eprint/9812/ https://plymsea.ac.uk/id/eprint/9812/1/Ford_etal_bg_2022.pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-4287-2022 |
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ftplymouthml:oai:plymsea.ac.uk:9812 2023-05-15T18:21:20+02:00 Identifying the biological control of the annual and multi-year variations in South Atlantic air–sea CO2 flux Ford, DJ Tilstone, GH Shutler, JD Kitidis, V 2022-09-09 text https://plymsea.ac.uk/id/eprint/9812/ https://plymsea.ac.uk/id/eprint/9812/1/Ford_etal_bg_2022.pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-4287-2022 en eng Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union https://plymsea.ac.uk/id/eprint/9812/1/Ford_etal_bg_2022.pdf Ford, DJ; Tilstone, GH; Shutler, JD; Kitidis, V. 2022 Identifying the biological control of the annual and multi-year variations in South Atlantic air–sea CO2 flux. Biogeosciences, 19 (17). 4287-4304. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-4287-2022 <https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-4287-2022> cc_by_4 CC-BY Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2022 ftplymouthml https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-4287-2022 2022-10-27T23:05:14Z The accumulation of anthropogenic CO2 emissions in the atmosphere has been buffered by the absorption of CO2 by the global ocean, which acts as a net CO2 sink. The CO2 flux between the atmosphere and the ocean, which collectively results in the oceanic carbon sink, is spatially and temporally variable, and fully understanding the driving mechanisms behind this flux is key to assessing how the sink may change in the future. In this study a time series decomposition analysis was applied to satellite observations to determine the drivers that control the sea–air difference of CO2 partial pressure (ΔpCO2) and the CO2 flux on seasonal and inter-annual timescales in the South Atlantic Ocean. Linear trends in ΔpCO2 and the CO2 flux were calculated to identify key areas of change. Seasonally, changes in both the ΔpCO2 and CO2 flux were dominated by sea surface temperature (SST) in the subtropics (north of 40∘ S) and were correlated with biological processes in the subpolar regions (south of 40∘ S). In the equatorial Atlantic, analysis of the data indicated that biological processes are likely a key driver as a response to upwelling and riverine inputs. These results highlighted that seasonally ΔpCO2 can act as an indicator to identify drivers of the CO2 flux. Inter-annually, the SST and biological contributions to the CO2 flux in the subtropics were correlated with the multivariate El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) index (MEI), which leads to a weaker (stronger) CO2 sink in El Niño (La Niña) years. The 16-year time series identified significant trends in ΔpCO2 and CO2 flux; however, these trends were not always consistent in spatial extent. Therefore, predicting the oceanic response to climate change requires the examination of CO2 flux rather than ΔpCO2. Positive CO2 flux trends (weakening sink for atmospheric CO2) were identified within the Benguela upwelling system, consistent with increased upwelling and wind speeds. Negative trends in the CO2 flux (intensifying sink for atmospheric CO2) offshore into the South ... Article in Journal/Newspaper South Atlantic Ocean Plymouth Marine Science Electronic Archive (PlyMSEA - Plymouth Marine Laboratory, PML) Biogeosciences 19 17 4287 4304 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Plymouth Marine Science Electronic Archive (PlyMSEA - Plymouth Marine Laboratory, PML) |
op_collection_id |
ftplymouthml |
language |
English |
description |
The accumulation of anthropogenic CO2 emissions in the atmosphere has been buffered by the absorption of CO2 by the global ocean, which acts as a net CO2 sink. The CO2 flux between the atmosphere and the ocean, which collectively results in the oceanic carbon sink, is spatially and temporally variable, and fully understanding the driving mechanisms behind this flux is key to assessing how the sink may change in the future. In this study a time series decomposition analysis was applied to satellite observations to determine the drivers that control the sea–air difference of CO2 partial pressure (ΔpCO2) and the CO2 flux on seasonal and inter-annual timescales in the South Atlantic Ocean. Linear trends in ΔpCO2 and the CO2 flux were calculated to identify key areas of change. Seasonally, changes in both the ΔpCO2 and CO2 flux were dominated by sea surface temperature (SST) in the subtropics (north of 40∘ S) and were correlated with biological processes in the subpolar regions (south of 40∘ S). In the equatorial Atlantic, analysis of the data indicated that biological processes are likely a key driver as a response to upwelling and riverine inputs. These results highlighted that seasonally ΔpCO2 can act as an indicator to identify drivers of the CO2 flux. Inter-annually, the SST and biological contributions to the CO2 flux in the subtropics were correlated with the multivariate El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) index (MEI), which leads to a weaker (stronger) CO2 sink in El Niño (La Niña) years. The 16-year time series identified significant trends in ΔpCO2 and CO2 flux; however, these trends were not always consistent in spatial extent. Therefore, predicting the oceanic response to climate change requires the examination of CO2 flux rather than ΔpCO2. Positive CO2 flux trends (weakening sink for atmospheric CO2) were identified within the Benguela upwelling system, consistent with increased upwelling and wind speeds. Negative trends in the CO2 flux (intensifying sink for atmospheric CO2) offshore into the South ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ford, DJ Tilstone, GH Shutler, JD Kitidis, V |
spellingShingle |
Ford, DJ Tilstone, GH Shutler, JD Kitidis, V Identifying the biological control of the annual and multi-year variations in South Atlantic air–sea CO2 flux |
author_facet |
Ford, DJ Tilstone, GH Shutler, JD Kitidis, V |
author_sort |
Ford, DJ |
title |
Identifying the biological control of the annual and multi-year variations in South Atlantic air–sea CO2 flux |
title_short |
Identifying the biological control of the annual and multi-year variations in South Atlantic air–sea CO2 flux |
title_full |
Identifying the biological control of the annual and multi-year variations in South Atlantic air–sea CO2 flux |
title_fullStr |
Identifying the biological control of the annual and multi-year variations in South Atlantic air–sea CO2 flux |
title_full_unstemmed |
Identifying the biological control of the annual and multi-year variations in South Atlantic air–sea CO2 flux |
title_sort |
identifying the biological control of the annual and multi-year variations in south atlantic air–sea co2 flux |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://plymsea.ac.uk/id/eprint/9812/ https://plymsea.ac.uk/id/eprint/9812/1/Ford_etal_bg_2022.pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-4287-2022 |
genre |
South Atlantic Ocean |
genre_facet |
South Atlantic Ocean |
op_relation |
https://plymsea.ac.uk/id/eprint/9812/1/Ford_etal_bg_2022.pdf Ford, DJ; Tilstone, GH; Shutler, JD; Kitidis, V. 2022 Identifying the biological control of the annual and multi-year variations in South Atlantic air–sea CO2 flux. Biogeosciences, 19 (17). 4287-4304. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-4287-2022 <https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-4287-2022> |
op_rights |
cc_by_4 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-4287-2022 |
container_title |
Biogeosciences |
container_volume |
19 |
container_issue |
17 |
container_start_page |
4287 |
op_container_end_page |
4304 |
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1766200539452801024 |