An assessment of the Atlantic and Arctic sea-air CO 2 fluxes, 1990-2009

• Published in: Biogeosciences
• Main Authors: Schuster, Ute, Mckinley, G. A., Bates, Nicholas R., Chevallier, Frédéric, Doney, Scott C., Fay, Amanda R., González-Dávila, Melchor, Gruber, Nicolas, Jones, Stephen D., Krijnen, J., Landschützer, Peter, Lefèvre, Nathalie, Manizza, Manfredi, Mathis, Jeremy T., Metzl, Nicolas, Olsen, Are, Rios, Aida F., Rödenbeck, Christian, Santana-Casiano, J. Magdalena, Takahashi, Taro, Wanninkhof, Rik H., Watson, Andrew J.
• Other Authors: University of East Anglia Norwich (UEA), University of Wisconsin-Madison, Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS), Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement Gif-sur-Yvette (LSCE), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Modélisation INVerse pour les mesures atmosphériques et SATellitaires (SATINV), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC), Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich (ETH Zürich), Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO - UC San Diego), University of California San Diego (UC San Diego), University of California (UC)-University of California (UC), NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory Seattle (PMEL), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), University of Bergen (UiB), Marine Research Institute (IIM-CSIC), IIM-CSIC, Max-Planck-Institut, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO), Columbia University New York
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2013
• Subjects: [PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-GEO-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Geophysics [physics.geo-ph]; [SDU.STU.GP]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Geophysics [physics.geo-ph]; [SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes; Arctic; North Atlantic; North Atlantic oscillation
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-00784593; https://hal.science/hal-00784593/document; https://hal.science/hal-00784593/file/bg-10-607-2013.pdf; https://doi.org/10.5194/BG-10-607-2013

International audience The Atlantic and Arctic Oceans are critical components of the global carbon cycle. Here we quantify the net sea-air CO 2 flux, for the first time, across different methodologies for consistent time and space scales for the Atlantic and Arctic basins. We present the long-term mean, seasonal cycle, interannual variability and trends in sea-air CO 2 flux for the period 1990 to 2009, and assign an uncertainty to each. We use regional cuts from global observations and modeling products, specifically a pCO 2 -based CO 2 flux climatology, flux estimates from the inversion of oceanic and atmospheric data, and results from six ocean biogeochemical models. Additionally, we use basin-wide flux estimates from surface ocean pCO 2 observations based on two distinct methodologies. Our estimate of the contemporary sea-air flux of CO 2 (sum of anthropogenic and natural components) by the Atlantic between 40° S and 79° N is -0.49 ± 0.05 Pg C yr -1 , and by the Arctic it is -0.12 ± 0.06 Pg C yr -1 , leading to a combined sea-air flux of -0.61 ± 0.06 Pg C yr -1 for the two decades (negative reflects ocean uptake). We do find broad agreement amongst methodologies with respect to the seasonal cycle in the subtropics of both hemispheres, but not elsewhere. Agreement with respect to detailed signals of interannual variability is poor, and correlations to the North Atlantic Oscillation are weaker in the North Atlantic and Arctic than in the equatorial region and southern subtropics. Linear trends for 1995 to 2009 indicate increased uptake and generally correspond between methodologies in the North Atlantic, but there is disagreement amongst methodologies in the equatorial region and southern subtropics.