Tracking the Variable North Atlantic Sink for Atmospheric CO 2
International audience The oceans are a major sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). Historically, observations have been too sparse to allow accurate tracking of changes in rates of CO 2 uptake over ocean basins, so little is known about how these vary. Here, we show observations indicating s...
Published in: | Science |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
Other Authors: | , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
HAL CCSD
2009
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://hal.science/hal-00763285 https://doi.org/10.1126/SCIENCE.1177394 |
Summary: | International audience The oceans are a major sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). Historically, observations have been too sparse to allow accurate tracking of changes in rates of CO 2 uptake over ocean basins, so little is known about how these vary. Here, we show observations indicating substantial variability in the CO 2 uptake by the North Atlantic on time scales of a few years. Further, we use measurements from a coordinated network of instrumented commercial ships to define the annual flux into the North Atlantic, for the year 2005, to a precision of about 10%. This approach offers the prospect of accurately monitoring the changing ocean CO 2 sink for those ocean basins that are well covered by shipping routes. |
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