Open AccessUnraveling dynamical controls on the North Pacific carbon sink
Author(s) -
Ayers Jennifer M.,
Lozier M. Susan
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: oceans
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.67
H-Index - 298
eISSN - 2156-2202
pISSN - 0148-0227
DOI - 10.1029/2011jc007368
Subject(s) - sink (geography) , advection , carbon sink , environmental science , oceanography , carbon cycle , seawater , latitude , geostrophic wind , dissolved organic carbon , atmospheric sciences , climatology , carbon fibers , climate change , geology , ecology , geography , physics , ecosystem , biology , materials science , cartography , geodesy , composite number , composite material , thermodynamics
A broad swath across the North Pacific basin uptakes a disproportionately large amount of atmospheric CO 2 every year, with the region of most intense uptake located in the North Pacific transition zone, from ∼30°N to 40°N–45°N. Though a net carbon sink on a mean annual basis, the region varies seasonally between a strong sink in winter and a neutral to weak source in summer. Herein we use observational carbon data to investigate processes regulating air‐sea CO 2 flux in this region on seasonal and annual timescales by quantifying the impacts of temperature, biology, and physics on seawater p CO 2 . Temperature effects dominate the p CO 2 signal seasonally, yet support only a portion of the annual CO 2 uptake in the region, via their impact on the solubility of CO 2 in seawater. Instead, processes removing carbon from surface waters dominantly support the region's uptake of CO 2 on annual timescales: the vertical export of organic carbon to depth, and the geostrophic advection of dissolved inorganic carbon laterally out of the region. We find the location of this carbon sink region, traditionally attributed to a combination of biological and temperature effects, to instead be driven by the steady geostrophic divergence of DIC at these latitudes.