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Constraining Southern Ocean CO 2 Flux Uncertainty Using Uncrewed Surface Vehicle Observations
Author(s) -
Sutton A. J.,
Williams N. L.,
Tilbrook B.
Publication year - 2021
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 - 10.1029/2020gl091748
Subject(s) - flux (metallurgy) , environmental science , sampling (signal processing) , satellite , range (aeronautics) , wind speed , climatology , atmosphere (unit) , atmospheric sciences , meteorology , geology , oceanography , geography , computer science , materials science , filter (signal processing) , engineering , metallurgy , composite material , computer vision , aerospace engineering
Remote, harsh conditions of the Southern Ocean challenge our ability to observe the region’s influence on the climate system. Southern Ocean air‐sea CO 2 flux estimates have significant uncertainty due to the reliance on limited ship‐dependent observations in combination with satellite‐based and interpolated data products. We utilize a new approach, making direct measurements of air‐sea CO 2 , wind speed, and surface ocean properties on an Uncrewed Surface Vehicle (USV). In 2019, the USV completed the first autonomous circumnavigation of Antarctica providing hourly CO 2 flux estimates. Using this unique data set to constrain potential error in different measurements and propagate those through the CO 2 flux calculation, we find that different wind speed products and sampling frequencies have the largest impact on CO 2 flux estimates with biases that range from −4% to +20%. These biases and poorly constrained interannual variability could account for discrepancies between different approaches to estimating Southern Ocean CO 2 uptake.