E.T. Sundquist
J.L. Sarmiento
1992
<p><span>Tracer-calibrated models of the total uptake of anthropogenic CO</span><sub>2</sub><span> by the world's oceans give estimates of about 2 gigatonnes carbon per year</span><sup>1</sup><span>, significantly larger than a recent estimate</span><sup>2</sup><span> of 0.3-0.8 Gt C yr</span><sup>-1</sup><span> for the synoptic air-to-sea CO</span><sub>2</sub><span> influx. Although both estimates require that the global CO</span><sub>2</sub><span> budget must be balanced by a large unknown terrestrial sink, the latter estimate implies a much larger terrestrial sink, and challenges the ocean model calculations on which previous CO</span><sub>2</sub><span> budgets were based. The discrepancy is due in part to the net flux of carbon to the ocean by rivers and rain, which must be added to the synoptic air-to-sea CO</span><sub>2</sub><span> flux to obtain the total oceanic uptake of anthropogenic CO</span><sub>2</sub><span>. Here we estimate the magnitude of this correction and of several other recently proposed adjustments to the synoptic air-sea CO</span><sub>2</sub><span> exchange. These combined adjustments minimize the apparent inconsistency, and restore estimates of the terrestrial sink to values implied by the modelled oceanic uptake.</span></p>
application/pdf
10.1038/356589a0
en
Springer Nature
Revised budget for the oceanic uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide
article