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Large accumulation of anthropogenic CO 2 in the East (Japan) Sea and its significant impact on carbonate chemistry
Author(s) -
Park GeunHa,
Lee Kitack,
Tishchenko Pavel,
Min DongHa,
Warner Mark J.,
Talley Lynne D.,
Kang DongJin,
Kim KyungRyul
Publication year - 2006
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 - 10.1029/2005gb002676
Subject(s) - alkalinity , environmental science , oceanography , seawater , carbonate , water column , total organic carbon , hydrography , total inorganic carbon , dissolved organic carbon , surface water , environmental chemistry , geology , carbon dioxide , chemistry , organic chemistry , environmental engineering
This paper reports on a basin‐wide inventory of anthropogenic CO 2 in the East (Japan) Sea determined from high‐quality alkalinity, chlorofluorocarbon, and nutrient data collected during a summertime survey in 1999 and total dissolved inorganic carbon data calculated from pH and alkalinity measurements. The data set comprises measurements from 203 hydrographic stations and covers most of the East Sea with the exception of the northwestern boundary region. Anthropogenic CO 2 concentrations are estimated by separating this value from total dissolved inorganic carbon using a tracer‐based (chlorofluorocarbon) separation technique. Wintertime surface CFC‐12 data collected in regions of deep water formation off Vladivostok, Russia, improve the accuracy of estimates of anthropogenic CO 2 concentrations by providing improved air‐sea CO 2 disequilibrium values for intermediate and deep waters. Our calculation yields a total anthropogenic CO 2 inventory in the East Sea of 0.40 ± 0.06 petagrams of carbon as of 1999. Anthropogenic CO 2 has already reached the bottom of the East Sea, largely owing to the effective transport of anthropogenic CO 2 from the surface to the ocean interior via deep water formation in the waters off Vladivostok. The highest specific column inventory (vertically integrated inventory per square meter) of anthropogenic CO 2 of 80 mol C m −2 is found in the Japan Basin (40°N−44°N). Comparison of this inventory with those for other major basins of the same latitude band reveal that the East Sea values are much higher than the inventory for the Pacific Ocean (20−30 mol C m −2 ) and are similar to the inventory for the North Atlantic (66−72 mol C m −2 ). The substantial accumulation of anthropogenic CO 2 in the East Sea during the industrial era has caused the aragonite and calcite saturation horizons to move upward by 80−220 m and 500−700 m, respectively. These upward movements are approximately 5 times greater than those found in the North Pacific. Both the large accumulation of anthropogenic CO 2 and its significant impact on carbonate chemistry in the East Sea suggest that this sea is an important site for monitoring the future impact of the oceanic invasion of anthropogenic CO 2 .