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Detecting the anthropogenic influences on recent changes in ocean carbon uptake
Author(s) -
Séférian Roland,
Ribes Aurélien,
Bopp Laurent
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2014gl061223
Subject(s) - coupled model intercomparison project , environmental science , greenhouse gas , climate change , sink (geography) , climatology , carbon sink , climate model , atmospheric sciences , oceanography , geology , geography , cartography
Anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions have modified the rate at which oceans have absorbed atmospheric CO 2 over the last centuries through rising atmospheric CO 2 and modifications in climate. However, there are still missing pieces in our understanding of the recent evolution of air‐sea CO 2 exchanges related to the magnitude of their response to anthropogenic forcings versus that controlled by the internal variability. Here, to detect and attribute anthropogenic influences on oceanic CO 2 uptake between 1960 and 2005, we compare an ensemble of Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) climate model simulations forced by individual drivers to ocean‐only model reconstructions. We demonstrate that the evolution of the global oceanic carbon sink over the last decades can be understood without invoking climate change, attributing rising atmospheric CO 2 as prominent driver of the oceanic sink. Nonetheless, at regional scale, the influence of climate change on air‐sea CO 2 exchanges seems to emerge from the internal variability within the low‐latitude oceans.