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Abstract The deep ocean releases large amounts of old, pre‐industrial carbon dioxide (CO2) to the atmosphere through upwelling in the Southern Ocean, which counters the marine carbon uptake occurring elsewhere. This Southern Ocean CO2release is relevant to the global climate because its changes could alter atmospheric CO2levels on long time scales, and also affects the present‐day potential of the Southern Ocean to take up anthropogenic CO2. Here, year‐round profiling float measurements show that this CO2release arises from a zonal band of upwelling waters between the Subantarctic Front and wintertime sea‐ice edge. This band of high CO2subsurface water coincides with the outcropping of the 27.8 kg m−3isoneutral density surface that characterizes Indo‐Pacific Deep Water (IPDW). It has a potential partial pressure of CO2exceeding current atmospheric CO2levels (∆PCO2) by 175 ± 32 μatm. Ship‐based measurements reveal that IPDW exhibits a distinct ∆PCO2maximum in the ocean, which is set by remineralization of organic carbon and originates from the northern Pacific and Indian Ocean basins. Below this IPDW layer, the carbon content increases downwards, whereas ∆PCO2decreases. Most of this vertical ∆PCO2decline results from decreasing temperatures and increasing alkalinity due to an increased fraction of calcium carbonate dissolution. These two factors limit the CO2outgassing from the high‐carbon content deep waters on more southerly surface outcrops. Our results imply that the response of Southern Ocean CO2fluxes to possible future changes in upwelling are sensitive to the subsurface carbon chemistry set by the vertical remineralization and dissolution profiles.
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Southern Ocean Calcification Controls the Global Distribution of Alkalinity
Biological processes in Southern Ocean surface waters have widespread impacts on global productivity and oceanic CO2storage. Here, we demonstrate that biological calcification in the Southern Ocean exerts a strong control on the global distribution of alkalinity. The signature of Southern Ocean calcification is evident in observations as a depletion of potential alkalinity within portions of Subantarctic Mode and Intermediate Water. Experiments with an ocean general circulation model indicate that calcification and subsequent sinking of biogenic carbonate in this region effectively transfers alkalinity between the upper and lower cells of the meridional overturning circulation. Southern Ocean calcification traps alkalinity in the deep ocean; decreasing calcification permits more alkalinity to leak out from the Southern Ocean, yielding increased alkalinity in the upper cell and low‐latitude surface waters. These processes have implications for atmosphere‐ocean partitioning of carbon. Reductions in Southern Ocean calcification increase the buffer capacity of surface waters globally, thereby enhancing the ocean's ability to absorb carbon from the atmosphere. This study highlights the critical role of Southern Ocean calcification in determining global alkalinity distributions, demonstrating that changes in this process have the potential for widespread consequences impacting air‐sea partitioning of CO2.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1735846
- PAR ID:
- 10359872
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.1029
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Global Biogeochemical Cycles
- Volume:
- 34
- Issue:
- 12
- ISSN:
- 0886-6236
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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