Connotea
CiteULike
del.ico.us
BibSonomyAbstract
Interannual variability of air-sea O2 fluxes and the determination of CO2 sinks using atmospheric O2/N2
Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Atmospheric and Ocean Sciences Program, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
Motivated by the use of atmospheric O2/N2 to determine CO2 sinks under the assumption of negligible interannual variability in air-sea O2 fluxes, we examine interannual fluctuations of the global air-sea flux of O2 during the period 1980–1998 using a global ocean circulation and biogeochemistry model along with an atmospheric transport model. It is found that both the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle and wintertime convection in the North Atlantic are primary drivers of global air-sea oxygen flux interannual variability. Model estimated extremes of O2 flux variability are −70/+100 × 1012 mol/yr (Tmol/yr), where positive fluxes are to the atmosphere. O2/N2 variability could cause an up to ±1.0 PgC/yr error in estimates of interannual variability in land and ocean CO2 sinks derived from atmospheric O2/N2 observations.
Published 1 February 2003.
Citation: (2003), Interannual variability of air-sea O2 fluxes and the determination of CO2 sinks using atmospheric O2/N2, Geophys. Res. Lett., 30(3), 1101, doi:10.1029/2002GL016044.
Cited By