Decadal acidification in the water masses of the Atlantic Ocean

Global ocean acidification is caused primarily by the ocean's uptake of CO2 as a consequence of increasing atmospheric CO2 levels. We present observations of the oceanic decrease in pH at the basin scale (50°S-36°N) for the Atlantic Ocean over two decades (1993-2013). Changes in pH associated w...

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Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Main Authors: Ríos, Aida F., Resplandy, Laure, García-Ibáñez, Maribel I., Fajar, Noelia M., Velo, Anton, Padin, Xose A., Wanninkhof, Rik, Steinfeldt, Reiner, Rosón, Gabriel, Pérez, Fiz F., Morel, François M.M.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/77096/
https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/77096/1/Published_Version.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1504613112
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spelling ftuniveastangl:oai:ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk:77096 2023-06-06T11:57:20+02:00 Decadal acidification in the water masses of the Atlantic Ocean Ríos, Aida F. Resplandy, Laure García-Ibáñez, Maribel I. Fajar, Noelia M. Velo, Anton Padin, Xose A. Wanninkhof, Rik Steinfeldt, Reiner Rosón, Gabriel Pérez, Fiz F. Morel, François M.M. 2015-08-11 application/pdf https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/77096/ https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/77096/1/Published_Version.pdf https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1504613112 en eng https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/77096/1/Published_Version.pdf Ríos, Aida F., Resplandy, Laure, García-Ibáñez, Maribel I., Fajar, Noelia M., Velo, Anton, Padin, Xose A., Wanninkhof, Rik, Steinfeldt, Reiner, Rosón, Gabriel, Pérez, Fiz F. and Morel, François M.M. (2015) Decadal acidification in the water masses of the Atlantic Ocean. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 112 (32). pp. 9950-9955. ISSN 0027-8424 doi:10.1073/pnas.1504613112 other Article PeerReviewed 2015 ftuniveastangl https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1504613112 2023-04-13T22:32:14Z Global ocean acidification is caused primarily by the ocean's uptake of CO2 as a consequence of increasing atmospheric CO2 levels. We present observations of the oceanic decrease in pH at the basin scale (50°S-36°N) for the Atlantic Ocean over two decades (1993-2013). Changes in pH associated with the uptake of anthropogenic CO2 (ΔpHCant) and with variations caused by biological activity and ocean circulation (ΔpHNat) are evaluated for different water masses. Output from an Institut Pierre Simon Laplace climate model is used to place the results into a longer-term perspective and to elucidate the mechanisms responsible for pH change. The largest decreases in pH (ΔpH) were observed in central, mode, and intermediate waters, with a maximum ΔpH value in South Atlantic Central Waters of -0.042 ± 0.003. The ΔpH trended toward zero in deep and bottom waters. Observations and model results show that pH changes generally are dominated by the anthropogenic component, which accounts for rates between -0.0015 and -0.0020/y in the central waters. The anthropogenic and natural components are of the same order of magnitude and reinforce one another in mode and intermediate waters over the time period. Large negative ΔpHNat values observed in mode and intermediate waters are driven primarily by changes in CO2 content and are consistent with (i) a poleward shift of the formation region during the positive phase of the Southern Annular Mode in the South Atlantic and (ii) an increase in the rate of the water mass formation in the North Atlantic. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Ocean acidification University of East Anglia: UEA Digital Repository Laplace ENVELOPE(141.467,141.467,-66.782,-66.782) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 112 32 9950 9955
institution Open Polar
collection University of East Anglia: UEA Digital Repository
op_collection_id ftuniveastangl
language English
description Global ocean acidification is caused primarily by the ocean's uptake of CO2 as a consequence of increasing atmospheric CO2 levels. We present observations of the oceanic decrease in pH at the basin scale (50°S-36°N) for the Atlantic Ocean over two decades (1993-2013). Changes in pH associated with the uptake of anthropogenic CO2 (ΔpHCant) and with variations caused by biological activity and ocean circulation (ΔpHNat) are evaluated for different water masses. Output from an Institut Pierre Simon Laplace climate model is used to place the results into a longer-term perspective and to elucidate the mechanisms responsible for pH change. The largest decreases in pH (ΔpH) were observed in central, mode, and intermediate waters, with a maximum ΔpH value in South Atlantic Central Waters of -0.042 ± 0.003. The ΔpH trended toward zero in deep and bottom waters. Observations and model results show that pH changes generally are dominated by the anthropogenic component, which accounts for rates between -0.0015 and -0.0020/y in the central waters. The anthropogenic and natural components are of the same order of magnitude and reinforce one another in mode and intermediate waters over the time period. Large negative ΔpHNat values observed in mode and intermediate waters are driven primarily by changes in CO2 content and are consistent with (i) a poleward shift of the formation region during the positive phase of the Southern Annular Mode in the South Atlantic and (ii) an increase in the rate of the water mass formation in the North Atlantic.
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Ríos, Aida F.
Resplandy, Laure
García-Ibáñez, Maribel I.
Fajar, Noelia M.
Velo, Anton
Padin, Xose A.
Wanninkhof, Rik
Steinfeldt, Reiner
Rosón, Gabriel
Pérez, Fiz F.
Morel, François M.M.
spellingShingle Ríos, Aida F.
Resplandy, Laure
García-Ibáñez, Maribel I.
Fajar, Noelia M.
Velo, Anton
Padin, Xose A.
Wanninkhof, Rik
Steinfeldt, Reiner
Rosón, Gabriel
Pérez, Fiz F.
Morel, François M.M.
Decadal acidification in the water masses of the Atlantic Ocean
author_facet Ríos, Aida F.
Resplandy, Laure
García-Ibáñez, Maribel I.
Fajar, Noelia M.
Velo, Anton
Padin, Xose A.
Wanninkhof, Rik
Steinfeldt, Reiner
Rosón, Gabriel
Pérez, Fiz F.
Morel, François M.M.
author_sort Ríos, Aida F.
title Decadal acidification in the water masses of the Atlantic Ocean
title_short Decadal acidification in the water masses of the Atlantic Ocean
title_full Decadal acidification in the water masses of the Atlantic Ocean
title_fullStr Decadal acidification in the water masses of the Atlantic Ocean
title_full_unstemmed Decadal acidification in the water masses of the Atlantic Ocean
title_sort decadal acidification in the water masses of the atlantic ocean
publishDate 2015
url https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/77096/
https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/77096/1/Published_Version.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1504613112
long_lat ENVELOPE(141.467,141.467,-66.782,-66.782)
geographic Laplace
geographic_facet Laplace
genre North Atlantic
Ocean acidification
genre_facet North Atlantic
Ocean acidification
op_relation https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/77096/1/Published_Version.pdf
Ríos, Aida F., Resplandy, Laure, García-Ibáñez, Maribel I., Fajar, Noelia M., Velo, Anton, Padin, Xose A., Wanninkhof, Rik, Steinfeldt, Reiner, Rosón, Gabriel, Pérez, Fiz F. and Morel, François M.M. (2015) Decadal acidification in the water masses of the Atlantic Ocean. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 112 (32). pp. 9950-9955. ISSN 0027-8424
doi:10.1073/pnas.1504613112
op_rights other
op_doi https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1504613112
container_title Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
container_volume 112
container_issue 32
container_start_page 9950
op_container_end_page 9955
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