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Abstract We assess the Southern Ocean CO2uptake (1985–2018) using data sets gathered in the REgional Carbon Cycle Assessment and Processes Project Phase 2. The Southern Ocean acted as a sink for CO2with close agreement between simulation results from global ocean biogeochemistry models (GOBMs, 0.75 ± 0.28 PgC yr−1) andpCO2‐observation‐based products (0.73 ± 0.07 PgC yr−1). This sink is only half that reported by RECCAP1 for the same region and timeframe. The present‐day net uptake is to first order a response to rising atmospheric CO2, driving large amounts of anthropogenic CO2(Cant) into the ocean, thereby overcompensating the loss of natural CO2to the atmosphere. An apparent knowledge gap is the increase of the sink since 2000, withpCO2‐products suggesting a growth that is more than twice as strong and uncertain as that of GOBMs (0.26 ± 0.06 and 0.11 ± 0.03 Pg C yr−1 decade−1, respectively). This is despite nearly identicalpCO2trends in GOBMs andpCO2‐products when both products are compared only at the locations wherepCO2was measured. Seasonal analyses revealed agreement in driving processes in winter with uncertainty in the magnitude of outgassing, whereas discrepancies are more fundamental in summer, when GOBMs exhibit difficulties in simulating the effects of the non‐thermal processes of biology and mixing/circulation. Ocean interior accumulation of Cantpoints to an underestimate of Cantuptake and storage in GOBMs. Future work needs to link surface fluxes and interior ocean transport, build long overdue systematic observation networks and push toward better process understanding of drivers of the carbon cycle.
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Deglacial Carbon Escape From the Northern Rim of the Southern Ocean
Abstract The Southern Ocean regulates atmospheric CO2and Earth's climate as a critical region for air‐sea gas exchange, delicately poised between being a CO2source and sink. Here, we estimate how long a water mass has remained isolated from the atmosphere and utilize14C/12C ratios (Δ14C) to trace the pathway and escape route of carbon sequestered in the deep ocean through the mixed layer to the atmosphere. The position of our core at the northern margin of the Southern Indian Ocean, tracks latitudinal shifts of the Southern Ocean frontal zones across the deglaciation. Our results suggest an expanded glacial Antarctic region trapped CO2, whereas deglacial expansion of the subantarctic permitted ventilation of the trapped CO2, contributing to a rapid atmospheric CO2rise. We identify frontal positions as a key factor balancing CO2outgassing versus sequestration in a region currently responsible for nearly half of global ocean CO2uptake.
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- PAR ID:
- 10507080
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.1029
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Geophysical Research Letters
- Volume:
- 51
- Issue:
- 8
- ISSN:
- 0094-8276
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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