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Journal ArticleDOI

Relationship between wind speed and gas exchange over the ocean

15 May 1992-Journal of Geophysical Research (John Wiley & Sons, Ltd)-Vol. 97, Iss: 5, pp 7373-7382
TL;DR: In this paper, the influence of variability in wind speed on the calculated gas transfer velocities and the possibility of chemical enhancement of CO2 exchange at low wind speeds over the ocean is illustrated using a quadratic dependence of gas exchange on wind speed.
Abstract: Relationships between wind speed and gas transfer, combined with knowledge of the partial pressure difference of CO2 across the air-sea interface are frequently used to determine the CO2 flux between the ocean and the atmosphere. Little attention has been paid to the influence of variability in wind speed on the calculated gas transfer velocities and the possibility of chemical enhancement of CO2 exchange at low wind speeds over the ocean. The effect of these parameters is illustrated using a quadratic dependence of gas exchange on wind speed which is fit through gas transfer velocities over the ocean determined by the natural-14C disequilibrium and the bomb-14C inventory methods. Some of the variability between different data sets can be accounted for by the suggested mechanisms, but much of the variation appears due to other causes. Possible causes for the large difference between two frequently used relationships between gas transfer and wind speed are discussed. To determine fluxes of gases other than CO2 across the air-water interface, the relevant expressions for gas transfer, and the temperature and salinity dependence of the Schmidt number and solubility of several gases of environmental interest are included in an appendix.
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present an overview of the climate system and its dynamics, including observed climate variability and change, the carbon cycle, atmospheric chemistry and greenhouse gases, and their direct and indirect effects.
Abstract: Summary for policymakers Technical summary 1. The climate system - an overview 2. Observed climate variability and change 3. The carbon cycle and atmospheric CO2 4. Atmospheric chemistry and greenhouse gases 5. Aerosols, their direct and indirect effects 6. Radiative forcing of climate change 7. Physical climate processes and feedbacks 8. Model evaluation 9. Projections of future climate change 10. Regional climate simulation - evaluation and projections 11. Changes in sea level 12. Detection of climate change and attribution of causes 13. Climate scenario development 14. Advancing our understanding Glossary Index Appendix.

13,366 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
Pierre Friedlingstein1, Pierre Friedlingstein2, Michael O'Sullivan1, Matthew W. Jones3, Robbie M. Andrew, Judith Hauck, Are Olsen, Glen P. Peters, Wouter Peters4, Wouter Peters5, Julia Pongratz6, Julia Pongratz7, Stephen Sitch2, Corinne Le Quéré3, Josep G. Canadell8, Philippe Ciais9, Robert B. Jackson10, Simone R. Alin11, Luiz E. O. C. Aragão12, Luiz E. O. C. Aragão2, Almut Arneth, Vivek K. Arora, Nicholas R. Bates13, Nicholas R. Bates14, Meike Becker, Alice Benoit-Cattin, Henry C. Bittig, Laurent Bopp15, Selma Bultan6, Naveen Chandra16, Naveen Chandra17, Frédéric Chevallier9, Louise Chini18, Wiley Evans, Liesbeth Florentie4, Piers M. Forster19, Thomas Gasser20, Marion Gehlen9, Dennis Gilfillan, Thanos Gkritzalis21, Luke Gregor22, Nicolas Gruber22, Ian Harris23, Kerstin Hartung6, Kerstin Hartung24, Vanessa Haverd8, Richard A. Houghton25, Tatiana Ilyina7, Atul K. Jain26, Emilie Joetzjer27, Koji Kadono28, Etsushi Kato, Vassilis Kitidis29, Jan Ivar Korsbakken, Peter Landschützer7, Nathalie Lefèvre30, Andrew Lenton31, Sebastian Lienert32, Zhu Liu33, Danica Lombardozzi34, Gregg Marland35, Nicolas Metzl30, David R. Munro36, David R. Munro11, Julia E. M. S. Nabel7, S. Nakaoka16, Yosuke Niwa16, Kevin D. O'Brien11, Kevin D. O'Brien37, Tsuneo Ono, Paul I. Palmer, Denis Pierrot38, Benjamin Poulter, Laure Resplandy39, Eddy Robertson40, Christian Rödenbeck7, Jörg Schwinger, Roland Séférian27, Ingunn Skjelvan, Adam J. P. Smith3, Adrienne J. Sutton11, Toste Tanhua41, Pieter P. Tans11, Hanqin Tian42, Bronte Tilbrook31, Bronte Tilbrook43, Guido R. van der Werf44, N. Vuichard9, Anthony P. Walker45, Rik Wanninkhof38, Andrew J. Watson2, David R. Willis23, Andy Wiltshire40, Wenping Yuan46, Xu Yue47, Sönke Zaehle7 
École Normale Supérieure1, University of Exeter2, Norwich Research Park3, Wageningen University and Research Centre4, University of Groningen5, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich6, Max Planck Society7, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation8, Université Paris-Saclay9, Stanford University10, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration11, National Institute for Space Research12, Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences13, University of Southampton14, PSL Research University15, National Institute for Environmental Studies16, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology17, University of Maryland, College Park18, University of Leeds19, International Institute of Minnesota20, Flanders Marine Institute21, ETH Zurich22, University of East Anglia23, German Aerospace Center24, Woods Hole Research Center25, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign26, University of Toulouse27, Japan Meteorological Agency28, Plymouth Marine Laboratory29, University of Paris30, Hobart Corporation31, Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research32, Tsinghua University33, National Center for Atmospheric Research34, Appalachian State University35, University of Colorado Boulder36, University of Washington37, Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory38, Princeton University39, Met Office40, Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences41, Auburn University42, University of Tasmania43, VU University Amsterdam44, Oak Ridge National Laboratory45, Sun Yat-sen University46, Nanjing University47
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe and synthesize data sets and methodology to quantify the five major components of the global carbon budget and their uncertainties, including emissions from land use and land-use change data and bookkeeping models.
Abstract: Accurate assessment of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and their redistribution among the atmosphere, ocean, and terrestrial biosphere in a changing climate – the “global carbon budget” – is important to better understand the global carbon cycle, support the development of climate policies, and project future climate change. Here we describe and synthesize data sets and methodology to quantify the five major components of the global carbon budget and their uncertainties. Fossil CO2 emissions (EFOS) are based on energy statistics and cement production data, while emissions from land-use change (ELUC), mainly deforestation, are based on land use and land-use change data and bookkeeping models. Atmospheric CO2 concentration is measured directly and its growth rate (GATM) is computed from the annual changes in concentration. The ocean CO2 sink (SOCEAN) and terrestrial CO2 sink (SLAND) are estimated with global process models constrained by observations. The resulting carbon budget imbalance (BIM), the difference between the estimated total emissions and the estimated changes in the atmosphere, ocean, and terrestrial biosphere, is a measure of imperfect data and understanding of the contemporary carbon cycle. All uncertainties are reported as ±1σ. For the last decade available (2010–2019), EFOS was 9.6 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1 excluding the cement carbonation sink (9.4 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1 when the cement carbonation sink is included), and ELUC was 1.6 ± 0.7 GtC yr−1. For the same decade, GATM was 5.1 ± 0.02 GtC yr−1 (2.4 ± 0.01 ppm yr−1), SOCEAN 2.5 ± 0.6 GtC yr−1, and SLAND 3.4 ± 0.9 GtC yr−1, with a budget imbalance BIM of −0.1 GtC yr−1 indicating a near balance between estimated sources and sinks over the last decade. For the year 2019 alone, the growth in EFOS was only about 0.1 % with fossil emissions increasing to 9.9 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1 excluding the cement carbonation sink (9.7 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1 when cement carbonation sink is included), and ELUC was 1.8 ± 0.7 GtC yr−1, for total anthropogenic CO2 emissions of 11.5 ± 0.9 GtC yr−1 (42.2 ± 3.3 GtCO2). Also for 2019, GATM was 5.4 ± 0.2 GtC yr−1 (2.5 ± 0.1 ppm yr−1), SOCEAN was 2.6 ± 0.6 GtC yr−1, and SLAND was 3.1 ± 1.2 GtC yr−1, with a BIM of 0.3 GtC. The global atmospheric CO2 concentration reached 409.85 ± 0.1 ppm averaged over 2019. Preliminary data for 2020, accounting for the COVID-19-induced changes in emissions, suggest a decrease in EFOS relative to 2019 of about −7 % (median estimate) based on individual estimates from four studies of −6 %, −7 %, −7 % (−3 % to −11 %), and −13 %. Overall, the mean and trend in the components of the global carbon budget are consistently estimated over the period 1959–2019, but discrepancies of up to 1 GtC yr−1 persist for the representation of semi-decadal variability in CO2 fluxes. Comparison of estimates from diverse approaches and observations shows (1) no consensus in the mean and trend in land-use change emissions over the last decade, (2) a persistent low agreement between the different methods on the magnitude of the land CO2 flux in the northern extra-tropics, and (3) an apparent discrepancy between the different methods for the ocean sink outside the tropics, particularly in the Southern Ocean. This living data update documents changes in the methods and data sets used in this new global carbon budget and the progress in understanding of the global carbon cycle compared with previous publications of this data set (Friedlingstein et al., 2019; Le Quere et al., 2018b, a, 2016, 2015b, a, 2014, 2013). The data presented in this work are available at https://doi.org/10.18160/gcp-2020 (Friedlingstein et al., 2020).

1,764 citations


Cites background or methods from "Relationship between wind speed and..."

  • ...5) (Wanninkhof, 1992) with the transfer coefficient k scaled to match a global mean transfer rate of 16 cm h−1 (calculated myself over the full period 1982–2019 – not following Naegler, 2009) Quadratic exchange formulation (k×U2×(Sc/660)−0....

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  • ...Use the parameterization of air–sea CO2 fluxes as in Wanninkhof (2014) instead of Wanninkhof (1992)...

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  • ...5) (Wanninkhof, 1992) with the transfer coefficient k scaled to match a global mean transfer rate of 16 cm h−1 by Naegler (2009) Quadratic exchange formulation (k×U2×(Sc/660)−0....

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  • ...…2014) with the transfer coefficient k scaled to match a global mean transfer rate of 16 cm h−1 by Naegler (2009) Quadratic exchange formulation (k×U2×(Sc/660)−0.5) (Wanninkhof, 1992) with the transfer coefficient k scaled to match a global mean transfer rate of 16 cm h−1 by Naegler (2009)…...

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  • ...5) (Wanninkhof, 1992) with the transfer coefficient k scaled to match a global mean transfer rate of 16 cm h−1 by Naegler (2009) Nightingale et al....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a global mean distribution for surface water pCO2 over the global oceans in non-El Nino conditions has been constructed with spatial resolution of 4° (latitude) × 5° (longitude) for a reference year 2000 based upon about 3 million measurements of surface water PCO2 obtained from 1970 to 2007.
Abstract: A climatological mean distribution for the surface water pCO2 over the global oceans in non-El Nino conditions has been constructed with spatial resolution of 4° (latitude) ×5° (longitude) for a reference year 2000 based upon about 3 million measurements of surface water pCO2 obtained from 1970 to 2007. The database used for this study is about 3 times larger than the 0.94 million used for our earlier paper [Takahashi et al., 2002. Global sea–air CO2 flux based on climatological surface ocean pCO2, and seasonal biological and temperature effects. Deep-Sea Res. II, 49, 1601–1622]. A time-trend analysis using deseasonalized surface water pCO2 data in portions of the North Atlantic, North and South Pacific and Southern Oceans (which cover about 27% of the global ocean areas) indicates that the surface water pCO2 over these oceanic areas has increased on average at a mean rate of 1.5 μatm y−1 with basin-specific rates varying between 1.2±0.5 and 2.1±0.4 μatm y−1. A global ocean database for a single reference year 2000 is assembled using this mean rate for correcting observations made in different years to the reference year. The observations made during El Nino periods in the equatorial Pacific and those made in coastal zones are excluded from the database. Seasonal changes in the surface water pCO2 and the sea-air pCO2 difference over four climatic zones in the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian and Southern Oceans are presented. Over the Southern Ocean seasonal ice zone, the seasonality is complex. Although it cannot be thoroughly documented due to the limited extent of observations, seasonal changes in pCO2 are approximated by using the data for under-ice waters during austral winter and those for the marginal ice and ice-free zones. The net air–sea CO2 flux is estimated using the sea–air pCO2 difference and the air–sea gas transfer rate that is parameterized as a function of (wind speed)2 with a scaling factor of 0.26. This is estimated by inverting the bomb 14C data using Ocean General Circulation models and the 1979–2005 NCEP-DOE AMIP-II Reanalysis (R-2) wind speed data. The equatorial Pacific (14°N–14°S) is the major source for atmospheric CO2, emitting about +0.48 Pg-C y−1, and the temperate oceans between 14° and 50° in the both hemispheres are the major sink zones with an uptake flux of −0.70 Pg-C y−1 for the northern and −1.05 Pg-C y−1 for the southern zone. The high-latitude North Atlantic, including the Nordic Seas and portion of the Arctic Sea, is the most intense CO2 sink area on the basis of per unit area, with a mean of −2.5 tons-C month−1 km−2. This is due to the combination of the low pCO2 in seawater and high gas exchange rates. In the ice-free zone of the Southern Ocean (50°–62°S), the mean annual flux is small (−0.06 Pg-C y−1) because of a cancellation of the summer uptake CO2 flux with the winter release of CO2 caused by deepwater upwelling. The annual mean for the contemporary net CO2 uptake flux over the global oceans is estimated to be −1.6±0.9 Pg-C y−1, which includes an undersampling correction to the direct estimate of −1.4±0.7 Pg-C y−1. Taking the pre-industrial steady-state ocean source of 0.4±0.2 Pg-C y−1 into account, the total ocean uptake flux including the anthropogenic CO2 is estimated to be −2.0±1.0 Pg-C y−1 in 2000.

1,653 citations


Cites methods from "Relationship between wind speed and..."

  • ...Wanninkhof (1992) used 14CO2 as a diagnostic for sea–air CO2 gas transfer, and estimated the scaling factor, G, of 0.39 based on a mean global wind speed of 7.4 m s 1, and a mean gas invasion rate of 21 cm h 1 derived from a simple box model to fit the global ocean bomb-14C inventory of 2.89 1028…...

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  • ...Considering various studies including Wanninkhof (1992), Nightingale et al. (2000) and Wanninkhof et al. (2004), we choose a formulation: k (cm h 1) ¼ G (U10)2 (Sc/660) 1/2, where U10 is wind speed at 10 m above sea surface, and Sc is Schmidt number [ ¼ (kinematic viscosity of water)/(diffusion…...

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the Wanninkhof dependence of the CO2 gas transfer velocity has been used to estimate the global ocean CO2 flux in the mean non-El Nino conditions for a reference year 1995.
Abstract: Based on about 940,000 measurements of surface-water pCO2 obtained since the International Geophysical Year of 1956–59, the climatological, monthly distribution of pCO2 in the global surface waters representing mean non-El Nino conditions has been obtained with a spatial resolution of 4°×5° for a reference year 1995. The monthly and annual net sea–air CO2 flux has been computed using the NCEP/NCAR 41-year mean monthly wind speeds. An annual net uptake flux of CO2 by the global oceans has been estimated to be 2.2 (+22% or ?19%) Pg C yr?1 using the (wind speed)2 dependence of the CO2 gas transfer velocity of Wanninkhof (J. Geophys. Res. 97 (1992) 7373). The errors associated with the wind-speed variation have been estimated using one standard deviation (about±2 m s?1) from the mean monthly wind speed observed over each 4°×5° pixel area of the global oceans. The new global uptake flux obtained with the Wanninkhof (wind speed)2 dependence is compared with those obtained previously using a smaller number of measurements, about 250,000 and 550,000, respectively, and are found to be consistent within±0.2 Pg C yr?1. This estimate for the global ocean uptake flux is consistent with the values of 2.0±0.6 Pg C yr?1 estimated on the basis of the observed changes in the atmospheric CO2 and oxygen concentrations during the 1990s (Nature 381 (1996) 218; Science 287 (2000) 2467). However, if the (wind speed)3 dependence of Wanninkhof and McGillis (Res. Lett. 26 (1999) 1889) is used instead, the annual ocean uptake as well as the sensitivity to wind-speed variability is increased by about 70%. A zone between 40° and 60° latitudes in both the northern and southern hemispheres is found to be a major sink for atmospheric CO2. In these areas, poleward-flowing warm waters meet and mix with the cold subpolar waters rich in nutrients. The pCO2 in the surface water is decreased by the cooling effect on warm waters and by the biological drawdown of pCO2 in subpolar waters. High wind speeds over these low pCO2 waters increase the CO2 uptake rate by the ocean waters. The pCO2 in surface waters of the global oceans varies seasonally over a wide range of about 60% above and below the current atmospheric pCO2 level of about 360 ?atm. A global map showing the seasonal amplitude of surface-water pCO2 is presented. The effect of biological utilization of CO2 is differentiated from that of seasonal temperature changes using seasonal temperature data. The seasonal amplitude of surface-water pCO2 in high-latitude waters located poleward of about 40° latitude and in the equatorial zone is dominated by the biology effect, whereas that in the temperate gyre regions is dominated by the temperature effect. These effects are about 6 months out of phase. Accordingly, along the boundaries between these two regimes, they tend to cancel each other, forming a zone of small pCO2 amplitude. In the oligotrophic waters of the northern and southern temperate gyres, the biology effect is about 35 ?atm on average. This is consistent with the biological export flux estimated by Laws et al. (Glob. Biogeochem. Cycles 14 (2000) 1231). Small areas such as the northwestern Arabian Sea and the eastern equatorial Pacific, where seasonal upwelling occurs, exhibit intense seasonal changes in pCO2 due to the biological drawdown of CO2.

1,637 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article presented the global general circulation model IPSL-CM5 developed to study the long-term response of the climate system to natural and anthropogenic forcings as part of the 5th Phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5).
Abstract: We present the global general circulation model IPSL-CM5 developed to study the long-term response of the climate system to natural and anthropogenic forcings as part of the 5th Phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5). This model includes an interactive carbon cycle, a representation of tropospheric and stratospheric chemistry, and a comprehensive representation of aerosols. As it represents the principal dynamical, physical, and bio-geochemical processes relevant to the climate system, it may be referred to as an Earth System Model. However, the IPSL-CM5 model may be used in a multitude of configurations associated with different boundary conditions and with a range of complexities in terms of processes and interactions. This paper presents an overview of the different model components and explains how they were coupled and used to simulate historical climate changes over the past 150 years and different scenarios of future climate change. A single version of the IPSL-CM5 model (IPSL-CM5A-LR) was used to provide climate projections associated with different socio-economic scenarios, including the different Representative Concentration Pathways considered by CMIP5 and several scenarios from the Special Report on Emission Scenarios considered by CMIP3. Results suggest that the magnitude of global warming projections primarily depends on the socio-economic scenario considered, that there is potential for an aggressive mitigation policy to limit global warming to about two degrees, and that the behavior of some components of the climate system such as the Arctic sea ice and the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation may change drastically by the end of the twenty-first century in the case of a no climate policy scenario. Although the magnitude of regional temperature and precipitation changes depends fairly linearly on the magnitude of the projected global warming (and thus on the scenario considered), the geographical pattern of these changes is strikingly similar for the different scenarios. The representation of atmospheric physical processes in the model is shown to strongly influence the simulated climate variability and both the magnitude and pattern of the projected climate changes.

1,526 citations


Cites methods from "Relationship between wind speed and..."

  • ...The carbon chemistry of the model is based on the Ocean Carbon Model Intercomparison Project (OCMIP2) protocol (Najjar et al. 2007) and the parameterization proposed by Wanninkhof (1992) is used to compute air-sea gas exchange of CO2 and O2....

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References
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the relation of P to conveniently available properties of dilute solutions is generalized to permit estimation of diffusion coefficients for engineering purposes for convective transport due to volume changes on mixing is negligible and other possible modes of mass transfer are not operative.
Abstract: Equation i 1) is strictly applicable in ideal dilute solutions in which convective transport due to volume changes on mixing is negligible, and in which other possible modes of mass transfer are not operative. This paper represents an attempito generalize the relation of P to conveniently available properties of dilute solutions so as to permit estimation of diffusion coefficients for engineering purposes.

4,166 citations

01 Jan 1973
TL;DR: In this article, wave spectra were measured along a profile extending 160 kilometers into the North Sea westward from Sylt for a period of two weeks in 1968 and 1969, with particular emphasis on wave growth under stationary offshore wind conditions and the attenuation of swell in water of finite depth.
Abstract: "Wave spectra were measured along a profile extending 160 kilometers into the North Sea westward from Sylt for a period often weeks in 1968 and 1969. During the main experiment in July 1969, thirteen wave stations were in operation, of which six stations continued measurements into the first two weeks of August. A smaller pilot experiment was carried out in September 1968. Currents, tides, air-sea temperature differences and turbulence in the atmospheric boundary layer were also measured. The goal of the experiment (described in Part 1) was to determine the structure of the source function governing the energy balance of the wave spectrum, with particular emphasis on wave growth under stationary offshore wind conditions (Part 2) and the attenuation of swell in water of finite depth (Part 3). The source functions of wave spectra generated by offshore winds exhibit a characteristic plus-minus signature associated with the shift of the sharp spectral peak towards lower frequencies. The two-lobed distribution of the source function can be explained quantitatively by the nonlinear transfer due to resonant wave-wave interactions (second order Bragg scattering). The evolution of a pronounced peak and its shift towards lower frequencies can also be understood as a selfstabilizing feature of this process. For small fetches, the principal energy balance is between the input by wind in the central region of the spectrum and the nonlinear transfer of energy away from this region to short waves, where it is dissipated, and to longer waves. Most of the wave growth on the forward face of the spectrum can be attributed to the nonlinear transfer to longer waves. For short fetches, approximately (80 ± 20) % of the momentum transferred across the air/sea interface enters the wave field, in agreement with Dobson's direct measurements of the work done on the waves by surface pressures. About 80-90 % of the wave-induced momentum flux passes into currents via the nonlinear transfer to short waves and subsequent dissipation; the rest remains in the wave field and is advected away. At larger fetches the interpretation of the energy balance becomes more ambiguous on account of the unknown dissipation in the low-frequency part of the spectrum. Zero dissipation in this frequency range yields a minimal atmospheric momentum flux into the wave field of the order of (10 to 40) % of the total momentum transfer across the air-sea interface -- but ratios up to 100 % are conceivable if dissipation is important. In general, the ratios (as inferred from the nonlinear energy transfer) lie within these limits over a wide (five-decade) range of fetches encompassing both wave-tank and the present field data, suggesting that the scales of the spectrum continually adjust such that the wave-wave interactions just balance the energy input from the wind. This may explain, among other features, the observed decrease of Phillips' "constant" with fetch. The decay rates determined for incoming swell varied considerably, but energy attenuation factors of two along the length of the profile were typical. This is in order of magnitude agreement with expected damping rates due to bottom friction. However, the strong tidal modulation predicted by theory for the case of a quadratic bottom friction law was not observed. Adverse winds did not affect the decay rate. Computations also rule out wave-wave interactions or dissipation due to turbulence outside the bottom boundary layer as effective mechanisms of swell attenuation. We conclude that either the generally accepted friction law needs to be significantly modified or that some other mechanism, such as scattering by bottom irregularities, is the cause of the attenuation. The dispersion characteristics of the swells indicated rather nearby origins, for which the classical (i event model was generally inapplicable. A strong Doppler modulation by tidal currents was also observed.

3,264 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the solubility coefficients for carbon dioxide in water and seawater are calculated for the data of Murray and Riley, and are fitted to equations in temperature and salinity of the form used previously to fit solubilities of other gases.

2,788 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
23 Mar 1990-Science
TL;DR: The observed differences between the partial pressure of CO2 in the surface waters of the Northern Hemisphere and the atmosphere are too small for the oceans to be the major sink of fossil fuel CO2, and a large amount of the CO2 is apparently absorbed on the continents by terrestrial ecosystems.
Abstract: Observed atmospheric concentrations of CO2 and data on the partial pressures of CO2 in surface ocean waters are combined to identify globally significant sources and sinks of CO2. The atmospheric data are compared with boundary layer concentrations calculated with the transport fields generated by a general circulation model (GCM) for specified source-sink distributions. In the model the observed north-south atmospheric concentration gradient can be maintained only if sinks for CO2 are greater in the Northern than in the Southern Hemisphere. The observed differences between the partial pressure of CO2 in the surface waters of the Northern Hemisphere and the atmosphere are too small for the oceans to be the major sink of fossil fuel CO2. Therefore, a large amount of the CO2 is apparently absorbed on the continents by terrestrial ecosystems.

2,016 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, precise data on the solubilities of nitrogen, oxygen and argon in distilled water and seawater are fitted to thermodynamically consistent equations by the method of least squares.

1,826 citations

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