Spatial distribution of air-sea CO2 fluxes and the interhemispheric transport of carbon by the oceans

Murnane, RJ, Sarmiento, JL and Le Quere, C ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2319-0452 (1999) Spatial distribution of air-sea CO2 fluxes and the interhemispheric transport of carbon by the oceans. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 13 (2). pp. 287-305. ISSN 0886-6236

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Abstract

The dominant processes controlling the magnitude and spatial distribution of the preindustrial air‐sea flux of CO2 are atmosphere‐ocean heat exchange and the biological pump, coupled with the direct influence of ocean circulation resulting from the slow time‐scale of air‐sea CO2 gas exchange equilibration. The influence of the biological pump is greatest in surface outcrops of deep water, where the excess deep ocean carbon resulting from net remineralization can escape to the atmosphere. In a steady state other regions compensate for this loss by taking up CO2 to give a global net air‐sea CO2 flux of zero. The predominant outcrop region is the Southern Ocean, where the loss to the atmosphere of biological pump CO2 is large enough to cancel the gain of CO2 due to cooling. The influence of the biological pump on uptake of anthropogenic CO2 is small: a model including biology takes up 4.9% less than a model without it. Our model does not predict the large southward interhemispheric transport of CO2 that has been suggested by atmospheric carbon transport constraints.

Item Type:	Article
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences University of East Anglia Research Groups/Centres > Theme - ClimateUEA
UEA Research Groups:	University of East Anglia Schools > Faculty of Science > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Centre for Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	06 May 2021 00:04
Last Modified:	20 Oct 2023 01:18
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/79935
DOI:	10.1029/1998GB900009

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