Southern Ocean's circulation impact on the marine carbon cycle

• Main Authors: Menviel, Laurie, Spence, Paul
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: Zenodo 2024
• Subjects: Carbon; Ocean circulation; southern hemisphere westerlies; Antarc*; Antarctic; Sea ice; Southern Ocean
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.mpg4f4r61

In the context of past and present climate change, the Southern Ocean (SO) has been identified as a crucial region modulating the concentration of atmospheric CO 2 . The sustained upwelling of carbon-rich deep waters and inefficient nutrient utilisation at the surface of SO leads to an outgassing of natural CO 2 , while anthropogenic CO 2 is entrained to depth during the formation of Antarctic Bottom water (AABW), Antarctic intermediate water (AAIW) and sub-Antarctic mode water (SAMW). Changes to the SO circulation resulting from both dynamic and buoyancy forcing can alter the rate of upwelling as well as formation and subsequent transport of AABW, AAIW and SAMW, thus impacting the air-sea CO 2 exchange in SO. Models of all complexity robustly show that stronger southern hemispheric (SH) westerlies enhance the SO upwelling, thus leading to stronger natural CO 2 outgassing, with a sensitivity of ∼0.13 GtC/yr for a 10% increase in SH westerly windstress. While the impact of changes in the position of the SH westerly winds was previously unclear, recent simulations with high-resolution ocean/sea-ice/carbon cycle models show that a poleward shift of the SH westerlies also enhances natural CO 2 outgassing with a sensitivity of ∼0.08GtC/yr for a 5• poleward shift. While enhanced AABW transport reduces deep ocean natural DIC concentration and increases surface natural DIC concentration, it acts on a centennial timescale. Future work should better constrain both the natural and anthropogenic carbon cycle response to changes in AABW and the compound impacts of dynamic and buoyancy changes on the SO marine carbon cycle. Funding provided by: Australian Research Council ROR ID: https://ror.org/05mmh0f86 Award Number: SR200100008 Funding provided by: Australian Research Council ROR ID: https://ror.org/05mmh0f86 Award Number: FT180100606 Funding provided by: Australian Research Council ROR ID: https://ror.org/05mmh0f86 Award Number: FT190100413 Funding provided by: Australian Research Council ROR ID: ...