What drives the seasonality of air-sea CO 2 fluxes in the ice-free zone of the southern ocean: A 1D coupled physical-biogeochemical model approach

• Published in: Marine Chemistry
• Main Authors: Pasquer, B., Metzl, Nicolas, Goosse, Hugues, Lancelot, Christiane
• Other Authors: Équipe CO2 (E-CO2), 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)-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)), 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), Earth and Life Institute - Environmental Sciences (ELIE), Université Catholique de Louvain = Catholic University of Louvain (UCL)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2015
• Subjects: Southern ocean; Air-sea CO 2 fluxes; Biogeochemical modelling; Seasonality; [PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-GEO-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Geophysics [physics.geo-ph]; Austral; Southern Ocean
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-01197219; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marchem.2015.08.008

International audience The complex biogeochemical SWAMCO-3 model has been used to assess the response of the ice-free Southern Ocean to the physical and biological mechanisms governing air-sea CO 2 exchanges. For this application, the model explicitly details the dynamics of three Phytoplankton Functional Types (PFTs) of importance for C, N, P, Si, Fe cycling and air-sea CO 2 exchange in this area. These are the diatoms, the pico-nanophytoplankton and the coccolithophores whose growth regulation by light, temperature and nutrients has been obtained from a literature review of phenomenological observations available for these PFTs. The performance of the SWAMCO-3 model coupled to a vertical one-dimensional physical model was first assessed at the location of the JGOFS time-series station KERFIX. The model was able to reproduce a mean seasonal cycle based on years where a maximum of chemical and biological observations are available at this location (1993–1994, 1994–1995, 1998–1999 and 2000–2001). Ocean f CO 2 in equilibrium with the atmosphere are simulated both in Austral winter associated with surface layer replenishment in DIC due to deep vertical mixing and in late summer as a consequence of the warming effect on the carbonate system. A clear under-saturation is found in spring/summer. Analysis of the modelled seasonal biogeochemical and physical features shows that thermodynamical conditions are driving the air-sea exchange of CO 2 in the region, while the biological activity under the control of light and iron availability, is responsible for the predicted relatively modest annual carbon sink (− 0.9 mol C m -2 y -1 )