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Abstract The South Atlantic Ocean is an important region for anthropogenic CO₂(C_anth) uptake and storage in the world ocean, yet is less studied. Here, after an extensive sensitivity test and method comparison, we applied an extended multiple linear regression method with six characteristic water masses to estimate C_anthchange or increase (ΔC_anth) between 1980s and 2010s in the South Atlantic Ocean using two meridional transects (A16S and A13.5) and one zonal transect (A10). Over a period of about 25 years, the basin‐wide ΔC_anthwas 3.86 ± 0.14 Pg C decade⁻¹. The two basins flanking the Mid‐Atlantic Ridge had different meridional patterns of ΔC_anth, yielding an average depth‐integrated ΔC_anthin the top 2000 m of 0.91 ± 0.25 mol m⁻² yr⁻¹along A16S on the west and 0.57 ± 0.22 mol m⁻² yr⁻¹along A13.5 on the east. The west‐east basin ΔC_anthcontrasts were most prominent in the tropical region (0–20°S) in the Surface Water (SW), approximately from equator to 35°S in the Subantarctic Mode Water (Subantarctic Mode Water (SAMW)), and all latitudes in the Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW). Less ΔC_anthin the eastern basin than the western basin was caused by weaker ventilation driven by SAMW and AAIW formation and subduction and stronger Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) formation in the former than the latter. In addition to the spatial heterogeneity, C_anthincrease rates accelerated from the 1990s to the 2000s, consistent with the overall increase in air‐sea CO₂exchange in the South Atlantic Ocean. 

Abstract As one kind of submesoscale instability, symmetric instability (SI) of the ocean surface mixed layer (SML) plays a significant role in modulating the SML energetics and material transport. The small spatial scales of SI,O(10 m–1 km), are not resolved by current climate ocean models and most regional models. This study describes comparisons in an idealized configuration of the SI parameterization scheme proposed by Bachman et al. (2017,https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocemod.2016.12.003) (SI‐parameterized) versus the K‐Profile Parameterization scheme (SI‐neglected) as compared to a SI‐permitting model; all variants use the Coastal and Regional Ocean Community Model version of the Regional Ocean Modeling System and this study also serves to introduce the SI parameterization in that model. In both the SI‐parameterized and SI‐permitting models, the geostrophic shear production is enhanced and anticyclonic potential vorticity is reduced versus the SI‐neglected model. A comprehensive comparison of the energetics (geostrophic shear production, vertical buoyancy flux), mixed layer thickness, potential vorticity, and tracer redistribution indicate that all these variables in the SI‐parameterized case have structures closer to the SI‐permitting case in contrast to the SI‐neglected one, demonstrating that the SI scheme qualitatively improves representation of the impacts of SI. This work builds toward applying the SI scheme in a realistic regional or climate model.