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Impact of Weddell Sea deep convection on natural and anthropogenic carbon in a climate model

Impact of Weddell Sea deep convection on natural and anthropogenic carbon in a climate model
Impact of Weddell Sea deep convection on natural and anthropogenic carbon in a climate model
A climate model is used to investigate the influence of Weddell Sea open ocean deep convection on anthropogenic and natural carbon uptake for the period 1860-2100. In a three-member ensemble climate change simulation, convection ceases on average by year 1981, weakening the net oceanic cumulative uptake of atmospheric CO2 by year 2100 (-4.3 Pg C) relative to an ocean that has continued convection. This net weakening results from a decrease in anthropogenic carbon uptake (-10.1 Pg C), partly offset by an increase in natural carbon storage (+5.8 Pg C). Despite representing only 4% of its area, the Weddell Sea is responsible for 22% of the Southern Ocean decrease in total climate-driven carbon uptake and 52% of the decrease in the anthropogenic component of oceanic uptake. Although this is a model-specific result, it illustrates the potential of deep convection to produce an inter-model spread in future projections of ocean carbon uptake.
Open ocean deep convection, carbon uptake, climate change, Weddell sea
0094-8276
7262-7269
Bernardello, Raffaele
a252abfc-4c78-4cdb-98ff-4befe0366c08
Marinov, Irina
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Palter, Jaime B.
edb4f2bf-def2-4b27-a656-771e163fe4ff
Galbraith, Eric D.
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Sarmiento, Jorge L.
45f5964b-15e6-43e8-bdd4-8789e2eb87cb
Bernardello, Raffaele
a252abfc-4c78-4cdb-98ff-4befe0366c08
Marinov, Irina
03a734eb-cd36-4a66-967f-57abacd3ef31
Palter, Jaime B.
edb4f2bf-def2-4b27-a656-771e163fe4ff
Galbraith, Eric D.
60c3eac7-8455-4065-8eed-2b60781a5511
Sarmiento, Jorge L.
45f5964b-15e6-43e8-bdd4-8789e2eb87cb

Bernardello, Raffaele, Marinov, Irina, Palter, Jaime B., Galbraith, Eric D. and Sarmiento, Jorge L. (2014) Impact of Weddell Sea deep convection on natural and anthropogenic carbon in a climate model. Geophysical Research Letters, 41 (20), 7262-7269. (doi:10.1002/2014GL061313).

Record type: Article

Abstract

A climate model is used to investigate the influence of Weddell Sea open ocean deep convection on anthropogenic and natural carbon uptake for the period 1860-2100. In a three-member ensemble climate change simulation, convection ceases on average by year 1981, weakening the net oceanic cumulative uptake of atmospheric CO2 by year 2100 (-4.3 Pg C) relative to an ocean that has continued convection. This net weakening results from a decrease in anthropogenic carbon uptake (-10.1 Pg C), partly offset by an increase in natural carbon storage (+5.8 Pg C). Despite representing only 4% of its area, the Weddell Sea is responsible for 22% of the Southern Ocean decrease in total climate-driven carbon uptake and 52% of the decrease in the anthropogenic component of oceanic uptake. Although this is a model-specific result, it illustrates the potential of deep convection to produce an inter-model spread in future projections of ocean carbon uptake.

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Accepted/In Press date: October 2014
Published date: 28 October 2014
Keywords: Open ocean deep convection, carbon uptake, climate change, Weddell sea
Organisations: Marine Biogeochemistry

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Local EPrints ID: 370056
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/370056
ISSN: 0094-8276
PURE UUID: c7af76fc-9f6f-4c9e-802e-c02d714119b3

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Date deposited: 14 Oct 2014 08:36
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 18:12

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Contributors

Author: Raffaele Bernardello
Author: Irina Marinov
Author: Jaime B. Palter
Author: Eric D. Galbraith
Author: Jorge L. Sarmiento

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