Atlantic Ocean CO2 uptake reduced by weakening of the meridional overturning circulation.
International audience Uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide in the subpolar North Atlantic Ocean declined rapidly between 1990 and 2006. This reduction in carbon dioxide uptake was related to warming at the sea surface, which--according to model simulations--coincided with a reduction in the Atlanti...
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Online Access: | https://hal.science/hal-00836122 https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1680 |
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ftunivbrest:oai:HAL:hal-00836122v1 2023-12-17T10:46:17+01:00 Atlantic Ocean CO2 uptake reduced by weakening of the meridional overturning circulation. Pérez, Fiz F. Mercier, Herlé Vázquez-Rodríguez, Marcos Lherminier, Pascale Velo, Anton Pardo, Paula C. Rosón, Gabriel F. Ríos, Aida Dpt Oceanografia IIM-CSIC Laboratoire de physique des océans (LPO) Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Faculty of Marine Sciences University of Vigo Pontevedra 2013 https://hal.science/hal-00836122 https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1680 en eng HAL CCSD Nature Publishing Group info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1038/ngeo1680 hal-00836122 https://hal.science/hal-00836122 doi:10.1038/ngeo1680 ISSN: 1752-0894 Nature Geoscience https://hal.science/hal-00836122 Nature Geoscience, 2013, 6, pp.146-152. ⟨10.1038/ngeo1680⟩ Oceanography Climate science Atmospheric science Biogeochemistry [SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal articles 2013 ftunivbrest https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1680 2023-11-21T23:36:11Z International audience Uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide in the subpolar North Atlantic Ocean declined rapidly between 1990 and 2006. This reduction in carbon dioxide uptake was related to warming at the sea surface, which--according to model simulations--coincided with a reduction in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. The extent to which the slowdown of this circulation system--which transports warm surface waters to the northern high latitudes, and cool deep waters south--contributed to the reduction in carbon uptake has remained uncertain. Here, we use data on the oceanic transport of volume, heat and carbon dioxide to track carbon dioxide uptake in the subtropical and subpolar regions of the North Atlantic Ocean over the past two decades. We separate anthropogenic carbon from natural carbon by assuming that the latter corresponds to a pre-industrial atmosphere, whereas the remaining is anthropogenic. We find that the uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide--released by human activities--occurred almost exclusively in the subtropical gyre. In contrast, natural carbon dioxide uptake--which results from natural Earth system processes--dominated in the subpolar gyre. We attribute the weakening of contemporary carbon dioxide uptake in the subpolar North Atlantic to a reduction in the natural component. We show that the slowdown of the meridional overturning circulation was largely responsible for the reduction in carbon uptake, through a reduction of oceanic heat loss to the atmosphere, and for the concomitant decline in anthropogenic CO2 storage in subpolar waters. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Université de Bretagne Occidentale: HAL Nature Geoscience 6 2 146 152 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Université de Bretagne Occidentale: HAL |
op_collection_id |
ftunivbrest |
language |
English |
topic |
Oceanography Climate science Atmospheric science Biogeochemistry [SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography |
spellingShingle |
Oceanography Climate science Atmospheric science Biogeochemistry [SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography Pérez, Fiz F. Mercier, Herlé Vázquez-Rodríguez, Marcos Lherminier, Pascale Velo, Anton Pardo, Paula C. Rosón, Gabriel F. Ríos, Aida Atlantic Ocean CO2 uptake reduced by weakening of the meridional overturning circulation. |
topic_facet |
Oceanography Climate science Atmospheric science Biogeochemistry [SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography |
description |
International audience Uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide in the subpolar North Atlantic Ocean declined rapidly between 1990 and 2006. This reduction in carbon dioxide uptake was related to warming at the sea surface, which--according to model simulations--coincided with a reduction in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. The extent to which the slowdown of this circulation system--which transports warm surface waters to the northern high latitudes, and cool deep waters south--contributed to the reduction in carbon uptake has remained uncertain. Here, we use data on the oceanic transport of volume, heat and carbon dioxide to track carbon dioxide uptake in the subtropical and subpolar regions of the North Atlantic Ocean over the past two decades. We separate anthropogenic carbon from natural carbon by assuming that the latter corresponds to a pre-industrial atmosphere, whereas the remaining is anthropogenic. We find that the uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide--released by human activities--occurred almost exclusively in the subtropical gyre. In contrast, natural carbon dioxide uptake--which results from natural Earth system processes--dominated in the subpolar gyre. We attribute the weakening of contemporary carbon dioxide uptake in the subpolar North Atlantic to a reduction in the natural component. We show that the slowdown of the meridional overturning circulation was largely responsible for the reduction in carbon uptake, through a reduction of oceanic heat loss to the atmosphere, and for the concomitant decline in anthropogenic CO2 storage in subpolar waters. |
author2 |
Dpt Oceanografia IIM-CSIC Laboratoire de physique des océans (LPO) Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Faculty of Marine Sciences University of Vigo Pontevedra |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Pérez, Fiz F. Mercier, Herlé Vázquez-Rodríguez, Marcos Lherminier, Pascale Velo, Anton Pardo, Paula C. Rosón, Gabriel F. Ríos, Aida |
author_facet |
Pérez, Fiz F. Mercier, Herlé Vázquez-Rodríguez, Marcos Lherminier, Pascale Velo, Anton Pardo, Paula C. Rosón, Gabriel F. Ríos, Aida |
author_sort |
Pérez, Fiz F. |
title |
Atlantic Ocean CO2 uptake reduced by weakening of the meridional overturning circulation. |
title_short |
Atlantic Ocean CO2 uptake reduced by weakening of the meridional overturning circulation. |
title_full |
Atlantic Ocean CO2 uptake reduced by weakening of the meridional overturning circulation. |
title_fullStr |
Atlantic Ocean CO2 uptake reduced by weakening of the meridional overturning circulation. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Atlantic Ocean CO2 uptake reduced by weakening of the meridional overturning circulation. |
title_sort |
atlantic ocean co2 uptake reduced by weakening of the meridional overturning circulation. |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
https://hal.science/hal-00836122 https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1680 |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_source |
ISSN: 1752-0894 Nature Geoscience https://hal.science/hal-00836122 Nature Geoscience, 2013, 6, pp.146-152. ⟨10.1038/ngeo1680⟩ |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1038/ngeo1680 hal-00836122 https://hal.science/hal-00836122 doi:10.1038/ngeo1680 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1680 |
container_title |
Nature Geoscience |
container_volume |
6 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
146 |
op_container_end_page |
152 |
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1785569704017920000 |