 |
| Information | |
| Latest Comments | |
| |
 | An Empirical Estimate of the Southern Ocean Air-Sea CO2 Flux |
 by Ben McNeil
A discrepancy exists between current estimates of the
Southern Ocean air-sea flux of CO2.
The most recent estimate using a combination of direct and
climatologically-derived pCO2 measurements [Takahashi et al.,
2002] (herein referred to as T02) suggests a
Southern Ocean CO2 sink that is nearly two times greater that that
suggested from general circulation models, atmospheric inverse models [Gurney et al.,
2002] and oceanic inverse models [Gloor et al.,
2003]. Here we employ an independent method
to estimate the Southern ocean air-sea flux of CO2. Our method exploits all available surface
measurements for Dissolved Inorganic Carbon (DIC) and total alkalinity (ALK) from 1986 to 1996. We show that surface
age-normalized DIC can be predicted to within ~8mmol/kg and ~10mmol/kg for ALK
using standard hydrographic properties, independent of season. The predictive equations are used in
conjunction with World Ocean Atlas (2001) climatologies to estimate an annual
cycle of DIC and ALK, while the
pCO2 distribution is calculated using standard carbonate
chemistry. For consistency we use the
same gas transfer relationship and wind product from Takahashi et
al, [2002] however, we include the effects of sea-ice. We estimate a
Southern Ocean CO2 sink (>40°S) of -0.19±0.26 Pg C for 1995. Our estimates are
smaller than those estimated by Takahashi et al,
[2002], but consistent with atmospheric / oceanic inverse methods, general
circulation models and provides further evidence that the Southern Ocean CO2
sink in relation to its oceanic surface area, is moderate on a global scale.
Links to Abstracts
Link to Slides
|
|
|
|
| |
| Login | |
| Related Links | |
| Options | |
|
| "Login" | Login | 5 comments | Search Discussion |
|
| | The comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content. |
|
|
|
No Comments Allowed for Anonymous Viewers, please login |
|
|
|
