Anthropogenic carbon distributions in the Atlantic Ocean: data-based estimates from the Arctic to the Antarctic

M. Vázquez-Rodríguez (1) , Franck Touratier (2) , Claire Lo Monaco (3) , D. W. Waugh (4) , X. Antonio Padin (1) , Richard G. J. Bellerby (5, 6) , Catherine Goyet (2) , Nicolas Metzl (3) , Aida F. Ríos (1) , Fiz F. Pérez (1)

1 Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas
2 IMAGES-Espace DEV - Institut de Modélisation et d'Analyses en géo-environnement et santé - Espace Développement
3 LOCEAN - Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques
4 Morton K. Blaustein Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences [Baltimore]
5 BCCR - Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research
6 GFI / BiU - Geophysical Institute [Bergen]

Five of the most recent observational methods to estimate anthropogenic CO₂ (C_ant) are applied to a high-quality dataset from five representative sections of the Atlantic Ocean extending from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Between latitudes 60° N–40° S all methods give similar spatial distributions and magnitude of C_ant. Conversely, large discrepancies are found in the Southern Ocean and Nordic Seas. The differences in the Southern Ocean have a significant impact on the anthropogenic carbon inventories. The calculated total inventories of C_ant for the Atlantic referred to 1994 range from 48 to 67 Pg (10¹⁵ g) of carbon, with an average of 54±8 Pg C, which is higher than previous estimates. These results, both the detailed C_ant distributions and extrapolated inventories, will help to validate biogeochemical ocean models and coupled climate-carbon models.

Domaines: Cosmologie et astrophysique extra-galactique [astro-ph.CO]; Astrophysique [astro-ph]; Interfaces continentales, environnement; Océan, Atmosphère; Sciences de la Terre

M. Vázquez-Rodríguez, Franck Touratier, Claire Lo Monaco, D. W. Waugh, X. Antonio Padin, et al.. Anthropogenic carbon distributions in the Atlantic Ocean: data-based estimates from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Biogeosciences Discussions, 2008, 5 (2), pp.1421-1443. ⟨10.5194/bg-6-439-2009⟩. ⟨hal-00330292⟩