scholarly journals Rate of Iceland Sea acidification from time series measurements

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (11) ◽  
pp. 2661-2668 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Olafsson ◽  
S. R. Olafsdottir ◽  
A. Benoit-Cattin ◽  
M. Danielsen ◽  
T. S. Arnarson ◽  
...  

Abstract. The Iceland Sea is one part of the Nordic Seas. Cold Arctic Water prevails there and the deep-water is an important source of North Atlantic Deep Water. We have evaluated time series observations of measured pCO2 and total CO2 concentration from discrete seawater samples during 1985–2008 for the surface and 1994–2008 for deep-water, and following changes in response to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide. The surface pH in winter decreases at a rate of 0.0024 yr−1, which is 50% faster than average yearly rates at two subtropical time series stations, BATS and ESTOC. In the deep-water regime (>1500 m), the rate of pH decline is a quarter of that observed in surface waters. The surface seawater carbonate saturation states (Ω) are about 1.5 for aragonite and 2.5 for calcite, about half of levels found in subtropical surface waters. During 1985–2008, the degree of saturation (Ω) decreased at an average rate of 0.0072 yr−1 for aragonite and 0.012 yr−1 for calcite. The aragonite saturation horizon is currently at 1710 m and shoaling at 4 m yr−1. Based on this rate of shoaling and on the local hypsography, each year another 800 km2 of seafloor becomes exposed to waters that have become undersaturated with respect to aragonite.

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 5251-5270 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Olafsson ◽  
S. R. Olafsdottir ◽  
A. Benoit-Cattin ◽  
M. Danielsen ◽  
T. S. Arnarson ◽  
...  

Abstract. The Iceland Sea is one part of the Nordic Seas. Cold Arctic Water prevails there and the deep water is an important source of North Atlantic Deep Water. We have evaluated time series observations of measured pCO2 and total CO2 concentration from discrete seawater samples during 1985–2008 for changes in response to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide. The surface pH in winter decreases 0.0024 yr−1, which is 50% faster than those at two subtropical time series stations, BATS and ESTOC. In the deep water regime (>1500 m), the rate of pH decline is ¼ of that observed in surface waters. The surface calcium carbonate saturation states (Ω) are about 1.5 for aragonite and 2.5 for calcite, and are about ½ those for subtropical waters. During the period 1985–2008, the degree of saturation (Ω) decreased at a rate of 0.0072 yr−1 for aragonite and 0.012 yr−1 for calcite. The aragonite saturation horizon is currently at 1750 m and rising at 4 m yr−1. Based on local hypsography, each year causes 800 km2 of sea floor, previously bathed in saturated waters, to be exposed to undersaturation conditions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (15) ◽  
pp. 2498
Author(s):  
Farhan Mustafa ◽  
Lingbing Bu ◽  
Qin Wang ◽  
Md. Arfan Ali ◽  
Muhammad Bilal ◽  
...  

Accurate knowledge of the carbon budget on global and regional scales is critically important to design mitigation strategies aimed at stabilizing the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. For a better understanding of CO2 variation trends over Asia, in this study, the column-averaged CO2 dry air mole fraction (XCO2) derived from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) CarbonTracker (CT) was compared with that of Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT) from September 2009 to August 2019 and with Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 (OCO-2) from September 2014 until August 2019. Moreover, monthly averaged time-series and seasonal climatology comparisons were also performed separately over the five regions of Asia; i.e., Central Asia, East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Western Asia. The results show that XCO2 from GOSAT is higher than the XCO2 simulated by CT by an amount of 0.61 ppm, whereas, OCO-2 XCO2 is lower than CT by 0.31 ppm on average, over Asia. The mean spatial correlations of 0.93 and 0.89 and average Root Mean Square Deviations (RMSDs) of 2.61 and 2.16 ppm were found between the CT and GOSAT, and CT and OCO-2, respectively, implying the existence of a good agreement between the CT and the other two satellites datasets. The spatial distribution of the datasets shows that the larger uncertainties exist over the southwest part of China. Over Asia, NOAA CT shows a good agreement with GOSAT and OCO-2 in terms of spatial distribution, monthly averaged time series, and seasonal climatology with small biases. These results suggest that CO2 can be used from either of the datasets to understand its role in the carbon budget, climate change, and air quality at regional to global scales.


2011 ◽  
Vol 24 (14) ◽  
pp. 3545-3557 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralph F. Keeling ◽  
Martin Visbeck

Abstract The suggestion is advanced that the remarkably low static stability of Antarctic surface waters may arise from a feedback loop involving global deep-water temperatures. If deep-water temperatures are too warm, this promotes Antarctic convection, thereby strengthening the inflow of Antarctic Bottom Water into the ocean interior and cooling the deep ocean. If deep waters are too cold, this promotes Antarctic stratification allowing the deep ocean to warm because of the input of North Atlantic Deep Water. A steady-state deep-water temperature is achieved such that the Antarctic surface can barely undergo convection. A two-box model is used to illustrate this feedback loop in its simplest expression and to develop basic concepts, such as the bounds on the operation of this loop. The model illustrates the possible dominating influence of Antarctic upwelling rate and Antarctic freshwater balance on global deep-water temperatures.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianjun Zou ◽  
Xuefa Shi ◽  
Aimei Zhu ◽  
Selvaraj Kandasamy ◽  
Xun Gong ◽  
...  

Abstract. Lower glacial atmospheric CO2 concentrations have been attributed to carbon sequestration in deep oceans. However, potential roles of voluminous subtropical North Pacific in modulating atmospheric CO2 levels on millennial timescale are poorly constrained. Further, an increase in respired CO2 concentration in the glacial deep ocean due to biological pump generally is coeval with less oxygenation in the subsurface layer. This link thus offers a chance to visit oceanic ventilation and the coeval export productivity based on redox-controlled sedimentary geochemical parameters. Here we investigate a suite of sediment geochemical proxies to understand the sedimentary oxygenation variations in the subtropical North Pacific (core CSH1) over the last 50 thousand years (ka). Our results suggest that sedimentary oxygenation at mid-depths of the subtropical North Pacific intensifies during the episodes of late glacial (50–25 ka), Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and also the interval after 8.5 ka, especially pronounced for the North Atlantic millennial-scale abrupt cold events of the Younger Dryas, Heinrich Stadial (HS) 1 and 2. On the other hand, oxygen-depleted seawater is found during the Bölling-Alleröd (B/A) and Preboreal. Our findings of enhanced sedimentary oxygenation in the subtropical North Pacific is aligned with intensified formation of North Pacific Intermediate Water (NPIW) during cold spells, while the ameliorated sedimentary oxygenation seems to be linked with the intensified Kuroshio Current since 8.5 ka. In our results, diminished sedimentary oxygenation during the B/A indicates an enhanced CO2 sequestration at mid-depth waters, along with slight increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration. Mechanistically, we speculate that these millennial-scale changes were linked to the strength of North Atlantic Deep Water, leading to intensification of NPIW formation and enhanced abyss flushing during deglacial cold and warm intervals, respectively. Enhanced formation of NPIW seem to be driven by the perturbation of sea ice formation and sea surface salinity oscillation in high latitude North Pacific through atmospheric and oceanic teleconnection. During the B/A, decreased sedimentary oxygenation likely resulted from an upward penetration of aged deep water into the intermediate-depth in the North Pacific, corresponding to a resumption of Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation.


2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 1995-2032 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. González-Dávila ◽  
J. M. Santana-Casiano ◽  
M. J. Rueda ◽  
O. Llinás

Abstract. The accelerated rate of increase in the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and the substantial fraction of anthropogenic CO2 emissions absorbed by the oceans are affecting the anthropocenic properties of seawater. Long-term time series are a powerful tool for investigating any change in ocean bio-geochemistry and its effects on the carbon cycle. We have evaluated the ESTOC (European Station for Time series in the Ocean at the Canary islands) observations of measured pH (total scale at 25 °C) and total alkalinity plus computed total dissolved inorganic carbon CO2 concentration (CT) from 1995 to 2004 for surface and deep waters, by following all changes in response to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide. The experimental values for the partial surface pressure of CO2 from 1995 to 2008 were also taken into consideration. The data were treated to better understand the fundamental processes controlling vertical distributions in the Eastern North Atlantic Ocean and the accumulation of anthropogenic CO2, CANT. CT at constant salinity, NCT, increased at a rate of 1 μmol kg−1 yr−1 in the first 200 m, linked to an fCO2 increase of 1.7±0.7 μatm yr−1 in both the atmosphere and the ocean. Consequently, the ESTOC site has also become more acidic, −0.0018±0.0003 units yr−1 over the first 100 m, whereas the carbonate ion concentrations and CaCO3 saturation states have also decreased over time. The rate of change is to be observed over the first 1000 m, where at 300, 600, and 1000 m the NCT increases at a rate of 0.69, 0.61 and 0.48 μmol kg−1 yr−1, respectively. The vertical distribution of the carbonate system variables are affected by the water mass structure and, to a different extent, controlled by the production/decomposition of organic matter, the formation/dissolution of carbonates, and differences in their respective pre-formed values. At 3000 m, 30% of the inorganic carbon production is related to the dissolution of calcium carbonate, with a total of 35% at the bottom. The total column inventory of anthropogenic CO2 for the decade was 66±3 mol m−2. A model fitting indicated that the column inventory of CANT increased from 61.7 mol m−2 in the year 1994 to 70.2 mol m−2 in 2004. The ESTOC site is presented by way of a reference site to follow CANT changes in the North Atlantic Sub-tropical gyre.


2019 ◽  
Vol 485 (4) ◽  
pp. 502-506
Author(s):  
S. V. Gladyshev ◽  
V. S. Gladyshev ◽  
A. A. Klyuvitkin ◽  
S. K. Gulev

Based on the multi-year current observations along 59.5 N in the Subpolar North Atlantic multi-jet transport of arctic water along Reykjanes Ridge eastern slope producing Iceland-Scotland overflow water (ISOW) in Iceland Basin is revealed. Main jet properties as well as their contribution to the deep water transport are discussed.


2006 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 435-456 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dagmar Kieke ◽  
Monika Rhein

Abstract One of the major topics in current field research is the question of whether or to what extent the North Atlantic Ocean is subject to changes in water mass transports, and how they are related to atmospheric phenomena like the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Bottle and CTD data from the 1950s to 1990s are presented to reconstruct spatially and temporally the baroclinic contribution to the deep water transports in the western subpolar North Atlantic. The focus is on the two densest components of North Atlantic Deep Water: the Gibbs Fracture Zone Water (GFZW) and the Denmark Strait Overflow Water (DSOW). Direct velocity measurements in the considered time period are sparse. For this reason it was decided to calculate the geostrophic velocity relative to 1400 dbar. This level is located in the weakly stratified Labrador Sea Water. The combined baroclinic volume transport of GFZW and DSOW during the early 1990s was about 5 Sv (Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1) in the Irminger Sea and 7–8 Sv in the Labrador Sea. Near the Flemish Cap, baroclinic transports reached 16–29 Sv. Because of the impact of the North Atlantic Current on the flow field resulting in steeply sloping isopycnals, the latter estimate is strongly dependent on the choice of the reference level, in contrast to other locations. Time series were obtained from data in the Irminger and Labrador Seas. In the Irminger Sea, the combined baroclinic transport of GFZW and DSOW increased from 4–5 Sv in the mid-1950s to 8–9 Sv in the 1980s, followed by a decrease to 5 Sv in the 1990s. In the Labrador Sea, the temporal variability was stronger (3–11 Sv), with interannual changes of 5–6 Sv. The importance of baroclinic transport variability is not easy to interpret. Results presented herein indicate that relations of the Irminger and Labrador Seas time series to the NAO remain ambiguous. Among other impacts the presence of eddies significantly affects the time series of baroclinic transport. Whether baroclinic variability represents the total variability of the flow (baroclinic and barotropic part) cannot be assessed without knowledge of the variability of the velocity field in the reference level.


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