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Creators/Authors contains: "Law, Cliff S"

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  1. Achieving net zero CO2 emissions requires gigatonne-scale atmospheric CO2 removal (CDR) to balance residual emissions that are extremely difficult to eliminate. Marine CDR (mCDR) methods are seen increasingly as potentially important additions to a global portfolio of climate policy actions. The most widely considered mCDR methods are coastal blue carbon and seaweed farming that primarily depend on biological manipulations; ocean iron fertilisation, ocean alkalinity enhancement, and direct ocean capture that depend on chemical manipulations; and artificial upwelling that depends on physical manipulation of the ocean system. It is currently highly uncertain which, if any, of these approaches might be implemented at sufficient scale to make a meaningful contribution to net zero. Here, we derive a framework based on additionality, predictability, and governability to assess implementation challenges for these mCDR methods. We argue that additionality, the net increase of CO2 sequestration due to mCDR relative to the baseline state, will be harder to determine for those mCDR methods with relatively large inherent complexity, and therefore higher potential for unpredictable impacts, both climatic and non-climatic. Predictability is inherently lower for mCDR methods that depend on biology than for methods relying on chemical or physical manipulations. Furthermore, predictability is lower for methods that require manipulation of multiple components of the ocean system. The predictability of an mCDR method also affects its governability, as highly complex mCDR methods with uncertain outcomes and greater likelihood of unintended consequences will require more monitoring and regulation, both for risk management and verified carbon accounting. We argue that systematic assessment of additionality, predictability, and governability of mCDR approaches increases their chances of leading to a net climatic benefit and informs political decision-making around their potential implementation. 
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  2. Abstract. Due to its remote location and extreme weather conditions, atmospheric in situmeasurements are rare in the Southern Ocean. As a result, aerosol–cloudinteractions in this region are poorly understood and remain a major source ofuncertainty in climate models. This, in turn, contributes substantially topersistent biases in climate model simulations such as the well-known positiveshortwave radiation bias at the surface, as well as biases in numericalweather prediction models and reanalyses. It has been shown in previousstudies that in situ and ground-based remote sensing measurements across theSouthern Ocean are critical for complementing satellite data sets due to theimportance of boundary layer and low-level cloud processes. These processesare poorly sampled by satellite-based measurements and are often obscured bymultiple overlying cloud layers. Satellite measurements also do not constrainthe aerosol–cloud processes very well with imprecise estimation of cloudcondensation nuclei. In this work, we present a comprehensive set of ship-basedaerosol and meteorological observations collected on the 6-weekSouthern Ocean Ross Sea Marine Ecosystem and Environment voyage(TAN1802) voyage of RV Tangaroa across the Southern Ocean, from Wellington, New Zealand, tothe Ross Sea, Antarctica. The voyage was carried out from 8 February to21 March 2018. Many distinct, but contemporaneous, data sets were collectedthroughout the voyage. The compiled data sets include measurements from arange of instruments, such as (i) meteorological conditions at the sea surfaceand profile measurements; (ii) the size and concentration of particles; (iii)trace gases dissolved in the ocean surface such as dimethyl sulfide andcarbonyl sulfide; (iv) and remotely sensed observations of low clouds. Here,we describe the voyage, the instruments, and data processing, and provide a briefoverview of some of the data products available. We encourage the scientificcommunity to use these measurements for further analysis and model evaluationstudies, in particular, for studies of Southern Ocean clouds, aerosol, andtheir interaction. The data sets presented in this study are publiclyavailable at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4060237 (Kremser et al., 2020). 
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  3. null (Ed.)
    Surface ocean biogeochemistry and photochemistry regulate ocean–atmosphere fluxes of trace gases critical for Earth's atmospheric chemistry and climate. The oceanic processes governing these fluxes are often sensitive to the changes in ocean pH (or p CO 2 ) accompanying ocean acidification (OA), with potential for future climate feedbacks. Here, we review current understanding (from observational, experimental and model studies) on the impact of OA on marine sources of key climate-active trace gases, including dimethyl sulfide (DMS), nitrous oxide (N 2 O), ammonia and halocarbons. We focus on DMS, for which available information is considerably greater than for other trace gases. We highlight OA-sensitive regions such as polar oceans and upwelling systems, and discuss the combined effect of multiple climate stressors (ocean warming and deoxygenation) on trace gas fluxes. To unravel the biological mechanisms responsible for trace gas production, and to detect adaptation, we propose combining process rate measurements of trace gases with longer term experiments using both model organisms in the laboratory and natural planktonic communities in the field. Future ocean observations of trace gases should be routinely accompanied by measurements of two components of the carbonate system to improve our understanding of how in situ carbonate chemistry influences trace gas production. Together, this will lead to improvements in current process model capabilities and more reliable predictions of future global marine trace gas fluxes. 
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  4. Abstract. Large-scale climatic forcing is impactingoceanic biogeochemical cycles and is expected to influence the water-columndistribution of trace gases, including methane and nitrous oxide. Our abilityas a scientific community to evaluate changes in the water-column inventoriesof methane and nitrous oxide depends largely on our capacity to obtain robustand accurate concentration measurements that can be validated acrossdifferent laboratory groups. This study represents the first formalinternational intercomparison of oceanic methane and nitrous oxidemeasurements whereby participating laboratories received batches of seawatersamples from the subtropical Pacific Ocean and the Baltic Sea. Additionally,compressed gas standards from the same calibration scale were distributed tothe majority of participating laboratories to improve the analytical accuracyof the gas measurements. The computations used by each laboratory to derivethe dissolved gas concentrations were also evaluated for inconsistencies(e.g., pressure and temperature corrections, solubility constants). Theresults from the intercomparison and intercalibration provided invaluableinsights into methane and nitrous oxide measurements. It was observed thatanalyses of seawater samples with the lowest concentrations of methane andnitrous oxide had the lowest precisions. In comparison, while the analyticalprecision for samples with the highest concentrations of trace gases wasbetter, the variability between the different laboratories was higher:36% for methane and 27% for nitrous oxide. In addition, thecomparison of different batches of seawater samples with methane and nitrousoxide concentrations that ranged over an order of magnitude revealed theramifications of different calibration procedures for each trace gas.Finally, this study builds upon the intercomparison results to developrecommendations for improving oceanic methane and nitrous oxide measurements,with the aim of precluding future analytical discrepancies betweenlaboratories. 
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