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Estimates of anthropogenic carbon uptake from four three‐dimensional global ocean models
Author(s) -
Orr James C.,
MaierReimer Ernst,
Mikolajewicz Uwe,
Monfray Patrick,
Sarmiento Jorge L.,
Toggweiler J. R.,
Taylor Nicholas K.,
Palmer Jonathan,
Gruber Nicolas,
Sabine Christopher L.,
Le Quéré Corinne,
Key Robert M.,
Boutin Jacqueline
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
global biogeochemical cycles
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.512
H-Index - 187
eISSN - 1944-9224
pISSN - 0886-6236
DOI - 10.1029/2000gb001273
Subject(s) - environmental science , coupled model intercomparison project , carbon cycle , ocean current , flux (metallurgy) , range (aeronautics) , climatology , oceanography , sampling (signal processing) , carbon flux , deep sea , atmospheric sciences , general circulation model , climate change , geology , ecosystem , chemistry , ecology , organic chemistry , filter (signal processing) , composite material , computer vision , biology , materials science , computer science
We have compared simulations of anthropogenic CO 2 in the four three‐dimensional ocean models that participated in the first phase of the Ocean Carbon‐Cycle Model Intercomparison Project (OCMIP), as a means to identify their major differences. Simulated global uptake agrees to within ±19%, giving a range of 1.85±0.35 Pg C yr −1 for the 1980–1989 average. Regionally, the Southern Ocean dominates the present‐day air‐sea flux of anthropogenic CO 2 in all models, with one third to one half of the global uptake occurring south of 30°S. The highest simulated total uptake in the Southern Ocean was 70% larger than the lowest. Comparison with recent data‐based estimates of anthropogenic CO 2 suggest that most of the models substantially overestimate storage in the Southern Ocean; elsewhere they generally underestimate storage by less than 20%. Globally, the OCMIP models appear to bracket the real ocean's present uptake, based on comparison of regional data‐based estimates of anthropogenic CO 2 and bomb 14 C. Column inventories of bomb 14 C have become more similar to those for anthropogenic CO 2 with the time that has elapsed between the Geochemical Ocean Sections Study (1970s) and World Ocean Circulation Experiment (1990s) global sampling campaigns. Our ability to evaluate simulated anthropogenic CO 2 would improve if systematic errors associated with the data‐based estimates could be provided regionally.