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An increasing CO 2 sink in the Arctic Ocean due to sea‐ice loss
Author(s) -
Bates Nicholas R.,
Moran S. Bradley,
Hansell Dennis A.,
Mathis Jeremy T.
Publication year - 2006
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 - 10.1029/2006gl027028
Subject(s) - arctic sea ice decline , sea ice , oceanography , arctic geoengineering , arctic ice pack , arctic , environmental science , sink (geography) , seawater , cryosphere , arctic dipole anomaly , canada basin , antarctic sea ice , geology , continental shelf , sea ice thickness , climatology , geography , cartography
The Arctic Ocean and adjacent continental shelf seas such as the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas are particularly sensitive to long‐term change and low‐frequency modes of atmosphere‐ocean‐sea‐ice forcing. The cold, low salinity surface waters of the Canada Basin of the Arctic Ocean are undersaturated with respect to CO 2 in the atmosphere and the region has the potential to take up atmospheric CO 2 , although presently suppressed by sea‐ice cover. Undersaturated seawater CO 2 conditions of the Arctic Ocean are maintained by export of water with low dissolved inorganic carbon content and modified by intense seasonal shelf primary production. Sea‐ice extent and volume in the Arctic Ocean has decreased over the last few decades, and we estimate that the Arctic Ocean sink for CO 2 has tripled over the last 3 decades (24 Tg yr −1 to 66 Tg yr −1 ) due to sea‐ice retreat with future sea‐ice melting enhancing air‐to‐sea CO 2 flux by ∼28% per decade.