Strong Southern Ocean carbon uptake evident in airborne observations

Matthew C. Long; Britton B. Stephens; Kathryn McKain; Colm Sweeney; Ralph F. Keeling; Eric A. Kort; Eric J. Morgan; Jonathan D. Bent; Naveen Chandra; Frederic Chevallier; Róisín Commane; Bruce C. Daube; Paul B. Krummel; Zoë Loh; Ingrid T. Luijkx; David Munro; Prabir Patra; Wouter Peters; Michel Ramonet; Christian Rödenbeck; Ann Stavert; Pieter Tans; Steven C. Wofsy

doi:10.1126/science.abi4355

Strong Southern Ocean carbon uptake evident in airborne observations

Matthew C. Long, Britton B. Stephens, Kathryn McKain, Colm Sweeney, Ralph F. Keeling, Eric A. Kort, Eric J. Morgan, Jonathan D. Bent, Naveen Chandra, Frederic Chevallier, Róisín Commane, Bruce C. Daube, Paul B. Krummel, Zoë Loh, Ingrid T. Luijkx, David Munro, Prabir Patra, Wouter Peters, Michel Ramonet, Christian RödenbeckAnn Stavert, Pieter Tans, Steven C. Wofsy

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74 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Southern Ocean plays an important role in determining atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂), yet estimates of air-sea CO₂ flux for the region diverge widely. In this study, we constrained Southern Ocean air-sea CO₂ exchange by relating fluxes to horizontal and vertical CO₂ gradients in atmospheric transport models and applying atmospheric observations of these gradients to estimate fluxes. Aircraft-based measurements of the vertical atmospheric CO₂ gradient provide robust flux constraints. We found an annual mean flux of –0.53 ± 0.23 petagrams of carbon per year (net uptake) south of 45°S during the period 2009–2018. This is consistent with the mean of atmospheric inversion estimates and surface-ocean partial pressure of CO₂ (PCO₂)–based products, but our data indicate stronger annual mean uptake than suggested by recent interpretations of profiling float observations.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1275-1280
Number of pages	6
Journal	Science
Volume	374
Issue number	6572
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abi4355
State	Published - Dec 3 2021

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Long, M. C., Stephens, B. B., McKain, K., Sweeney, C., Keeling, R. F., Kort, E. A., Morgan, E. J., Bent, J. D., Chandra, N., Chevallier, F., Commane, R., Daube, B. C., Krummel, P. B., Loh, Z., Luijkx, I. T., Munro, D., Patra, P., Peters, W., Ramonet, M., ... Wofsy, S. C. (2021). Strong Southern Ocean carbon uptake evident in airborne observations. Science, 374(6572), 1275-1280. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abi4355

@article{5d54304df129472ba8eb71eff9fbd31e,

title = "Strong Southern Ocean carbon uptake evident in airborne observations",

abstract = "The Southern Ocean plays an important role in determining atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), yet estimates of air-sea CO2 flux for the region diverge widely. In this study, we constrained Southern Ocean air-sea CO2 exchange by relating fluxes to horizontal and vertical CO2 gradients in atmospheric transport models and applying atmospheric observations of these gradients to estimate fluxes. Aircraft-based measurements of the vertical atmospheric CO2 gradient provide robust flux constraints. We found an annual mean flux of –0.53 ± 0.23 petagrams of carbon per year (net uptake) south of 45°S during the period 2009–2018. This is consistent with the mean of atmospheric inversion estimates and surface-ocean partial pressure of CO2 (PCO2)–based products, but our data indicate stronger annual mean uptake than suggested by recent interpretations of profiling float observations.",

author = "Long, \{Matthew C.\} and Stephens, \{Britton B.\} and Kathryn McKain and Colm Sweeney and Keeling, \{Ralph F.\} and Kort, \{Eric A.\} and Morgan, \{Eric J.\} and Bent, \{Jonathan D.\} and Naveen Chandra and Frederic Chevallier and R{\'o}is{\'i}n Commane and Daube, \{Bruce C.\} and Krummel, \{Paul B.\} and Zo{\"e} Loh and Luijkx, \{Ingrid T.\} and David Munro and Prabir Patra and Wouter Peters and Michel Ramonet and Christian R{\"o}denbeck and Ann Stavert and Pieter Tans and Wofsy, \{Steven C.\}",

year = "2021",

month = dec,

day = "3",

doi = "10.1126/science.abi4355",

language = "English",

volume = "374",

pages = "1275--1280",

journal = "Science",

issn = "0036-8075",

publisher = "American Association for the Advancement of Science",

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}

Long, MC, Stephens, BB, McKain, K, Sweeney, C, Keeling, RF, Kort, EA, Morgan, EJ, Bent, JD, Chandra, N, Chevallier, F, Commane, R, Daube, BC, Krummel, PB, Loh, Z, Luijkx, IT, Munro, D, Patra, P, Peters, W, Ramonet, M, Rödenbeck, C, Stavert, A, Tans, P & Wofsy, SC 2021, 'Strong Southern Ocean carbon uptake evident in airborne observations', Science, vol. 374, no. 6572, pp. 1275-1280. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abi4355

TY - JOUR

T1 - Strong Southern Ocean carbon uptake evident in airborne observations

AU - Long, Matthew C.

AU - Stephens, Britton B.

AU - McKain, Kathryn

AU - Sweeney, Colm

AU - Keeling, Ralph F.

AU - Kort, Eric A.

AU - Morgan, Eric J.

AU - Bent, Jonathan D.

AU - Chandra, Naveen

AU - Chevallier, Frederic

AU - Commane, Róisín

AU - Daube, Bruce C.

AU - Krummel, Paul B.

AU - Loh, Zoë

AU - Luijkx, Ingrid T.

AU - Munro, David

AU - Patra, Prabir

AU - Peters, Wouter

AU - Ramonet, Michel

AU - Rödenbeck, Christian

AU - Stavert, Ann

AU - Tans, Pieter

AU - Wofsy, Steven C.

PY - 2021/12/3

Y1 - 2021/12/3

N2 - The Southern Ocean plays an important role in determining atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), yet estimates of air-sea CO2 flux for the region diverge widely. In this study, we constrained Southern Ocean air-sea CO2 exchange by relating fluxes to horizontal and vertical CO2 gradients in atmospheric transport models and applying atmospheric observations of these gradients to estimate fluxes. Aircraft-based measurements of the vertical atmospheric CO2 gradient provide robust flux constraints. We found an annual mean flux of –0.53 ± 0.23 petagrams of carbon per year (net uptake) south of 45°S during the period 2009–2018. This is consistent with the mean of atmospheric inversion estimates and surface-ocean partial pressure of CO2 (PCO2)–based products, but our data indicate stronger annual mean uptake than suggested by recent interpretations of profiling float observations.

AB - The Southern Ocean plays an important role in determining atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), yet estimates of air-sea CO2 flux for the region diverge widely. In this study, we constrained Southern Ocean air-sea CO2 exchange by relating fluxes to horizontal and vertical CO2 gradients in atmospheric transport models and applying atmospheric observations of these gradients to estimate fluxes. Aircraft-based measurements of the vertical atmospheric CO2 gradient provide robust flux constraints. We found an annual mean flux of –0.53 ± 0.23 petagrams of carbon per year (net uptake) south of 45°S during the period 2009–2018. This is consistent with the mean of atmospheric inversion estimates and surface-ocean partial pressure of CO2 (PCO2)–based products, but our data indicate stronger annual mean uptake than suggested by recent interpretations of profiling float observations.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85120679180

U2 - 10.1126/science.abi4355

DO - 10.1126/science.abi4355

M3 - Article

C2 - 34855495

AN - SCOPUS:85120679180

SN - 0036-8075

VL - 374

SP - 1275

EP - 1280

JO - Science

JF - Science

IS - 6572

ER -

Strong Southern Ocean carbon uptake evident in airborne observations

Abstract

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