Oceanic CO2 Variability and the Influence of Storms on Air-Sea CO2 Flux
Date: Tuesday, September 27 @ 08:30:00 MDT
Topic: The Fate of Fossil-Fuel Emissions


by Nicholas Bates

Two decades of continuous oceanic CO2 observations in the North Atlantic Ocean near Bermuda at Hydrostation S (32°50'N, 64°10'W; 1983-1988) and BATS (Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study; 32°10'N, 64°30'W; 1988-2003) sites are examined for long-term trends, changes in the oceanic sink of CO2, and the influence of atmospheric changes and short-term hurricane wind events. Over the 1983-2003 period, surface DIC and alkalinity increased at a rate of +1.18 + 0.19 µmoles kg-1 year-1 and +0.69 + 0.14 µmoles kg-1 year-1, respectively. The observed rate of surface ocean salinity normalized DIC (nDIC) was +0.79 + 0.13 µmoles kg-1 year-1 and similar to that expected from oceanic equilibration with increasing CO2 in the atmosphere. The upward trend in oceanic p CO2 (1.53 + 0.13 µatm year-) is also identical to the rate of atmospheric CO2 increase (1.59 + 0.02 µatm year-1) over the last 20 years. The ocean near Bermuda has also become more acidic, with a decrease in seawater pH of 0.0012 + 0.0006 pH units year-1.

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This article comes from The 7th International CO2 Conference Web Site
http://icdc7.cmdl.noaa.gov/

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