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Variability of oceanic carbon cycle in the North Pacific from seasonal to decadal scales
Author(s) -
Xiu Peng,
Chai Fei
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: oceans
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-9291
pISSN - 2169-9275
DOI - 10.1002/2013jc009505
Subject(s) - pacific decadal oscillation , ocean gyre , oceanography , flux (metallurgy) , climatology , bay , environmental science , biogeochemical cycle , sea surface temperature , annual cycle , pacific ocean , geology , subtropics , chemistry , fishery , environmental chemistry , biology , organic chemistry
Variability of upper‐ocean carbon cycle in the North Pacific during 1958–2010 period is investigated using a physical‐biogeochemical model. Comparisons with in situ data from five different oceanographic environments in the South China Sea, Monterey Bay, North Pacific gyre, northwestern Pacific, and Gulf of Alaska indicate that the model usually captures observed seasonal and interannual variability in both sea surface pCO 2 and sea‐air CO 2 flux. Seasonal variability of pCO 2 and CO 2 flux in the North Pacific follows the change in sea surface temperature (SST) closely with high and low values in summer and winter, respectively. Total CO 2 modifies pCO 2 seasonal pattern in an opposite manner with respect to SST, and surface wind speed modifies the magnitude of CO 2 flux variations. On interannual and decadal time scales, sea surface pCO 2 is primarily controlled by anthropogenic CO 2 , followed by modulations by the El Niño‐Southern Oscillation and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), while sea‐air CO 2 flux is significantly regulated by the PDO and the North Pacific Gyre Oscillation (NPGO). We show that anthropogenic CO 2 tends to amplify the influence on CO 2 flux from the PDO but to damp the influence from the NPGO.