Two major problems in carbon cycle research are that the current
data-based budget of artificially-produced radiocarbon is unbalanced and that
the air-sea gas transfer piston velocity remains uncertain. In this study, the
regional distribution of bomb-produced radiocarbon inventories in the ocean and
their dependencies on the piston velocity is analysed within a seasonal, 3-d
frictional-geostrophic balance ocean model. Model results and data-based reconstructions
are compared to evaluate the consistency between the applied piston velocity
field and data-deduced ocean inventories. Bomb-radiocarbon inventories in the
GEOSECS and WOCE era are predominantly governed by the applied piston velocity.
Here, the piston velocity field provided by the Ocean Carbon Cycle
Intercomparison Project (OCMIP-II) were prescribed and scaled by a globally
constant factor in a range of sensitivity simulations.
Author: S. A. Müller, F. Joos and G.-K. Plattner (joos at climate dot unibe dot ch)
Filesize: 31.44 Kb