Tracking the variable North Atlantic sink for atmospheric CO2

Andrew J. Watson; Ute Schuster; Dorothee C. E. Bakker; Nicholas R. Bates; Antoine Corbière; Melchor González-Dávila; Tobias Friedrich; Judith Hauck; Christoph Heinze; Truls Johannessen; Arne Körtzinger; Nicolas Metzl; Jon Olafsson; Are Olsen; Andreas Oschlies; X. Antonio Padin; Benjamin Pfeil; J. Magdalena Santana-Casiano; Tobias Steinhoff; Maciej Telszewski; Aida F. Rios; Douglas W. R. Wallace; Rik Wanninkhof

doi:10.1126/science.1177394

Tracking the variable North Atlantic sink for atmospheric CO₂

Andrew J. Watson, Ute Schuster, Dorothee C. E. Bakker, Nicholas R. Bates, Antoine Corbière, Melchor González-Dávila, Tobias Friedrich, Judith Hauck, Christoph Heinze, Truls Johannessen, Arne Körtzinger, Nicolas Metzl, Jon Olafsson, Are Olsen, Andreas Oschlies, X. Antonio Padin, Benjamin Pfeil, J. Magdalena Santana-Casiano, Tobias Steinhoff, Maciej TelszewskiAida F. Rios, Douglas W. R. Wallace, Rik Wanninkhof

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

144 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The oceans are a major sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2 Historically, observations have been too sparse to allow accurate tracking of changes in rates of CO2 uptake over ocean basins, so little is known about how these vary. Here, we show observations indicating substantial variability in the CO2 uptake by the North Atlantic on time scales of a few years. Further, we use measurements from a coordinated network of instrumented commercial ships to define the annual flux into the North Atlantic, for the year 2005, to a precision of about 10%. This approach offers the prospect of accurately monitoring the changing ocean CO2 sink for those ocean basins that are well covered by shipping routes.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1391-1393
Number of pages	3
Journal	Science
Volume	326
Issue number	5958
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1177394
Publication status	Published - 2009

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10.1126/science.1177394

Cite this

Watson, A. J., Schuster, U., Bakker, D. C. E., Bates, N. R., Corbière, A., González-Dávila, M., Friedrich, T., Hauck, J., Heinze, C., Johannessen, T., Körtzinger, A., Metzl, N., Olafsson, J., Olsen, A., Oschlies, A., Padin, X. A., Pfeil, B., Santana-Casiano, J. M., Steinhoff, T., ... Wanninkhof, R. (2009). Tracking the variable North Atlantic sink for atmospheric CO₂. Science, 326(5958), 1391-1393. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1177394

@article{7f10ba120dfb4529a5281771c2eb12f8,

title = "Tracking the variable North Atlantic sink for atmospheric CO2",

abstract = "The oceans are a major sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2 Historically, observations have been too sparse to allow accurate tracking of changes in rates of CO2 uptake over ocean basins, so little is known about how these vary. Here, we show observations indicating substantial variability in the CO2 uptake by the North Atlantic on time scales of a few years. Further, we use measurements from a coordinated network of instrumented commercial ships to define the annual flux into the North Atlantic, for the year 2005, to a precision of about 10%. This approach offers the prospect of accurately monitoring the changing ocean CO2 sink for those ocean basins that are well covered by shipping routes.",

author = "Watson, {Andrew J.} and Ute Schuster and Bakker, {Dorothee C. E.} and Bates, {Nicholas R.} and Antoine Corbi{\`e}re and Melchor Gonz{\'a}lez-D{\'a}vila and Tobias Friedrich and Judith Hauck and Christoph Heinze and Truls Johannessen and Arne K{\"o}rtzinger and Nicolas Metzl and Jon Olafsson and Are Olsen and Andreas Oschlies and Padin, {X. Antonio} and Benjamin Pfeil and Santana-Casiano, {J. Magdalena} and Tobias Steinhoff and Maciej Telszewski and Rios, {Aida F.} and Wallace, {Douglas W. R.} and Rik Wanninkhof",

year = "2009",

doi = "10.1126/science.1177394",

language = "English",

volume = "326",

pages = "1391--1393",

journal = "Science",

issn = "0036-8075",

publisher = "American Association for the Advancement of Science",

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Watson, AJ, Schuster, U, Bakker, DCE, Bates, NR, Corbière, A, González-Dávila, M, Friedrich, T, Hauck, J, Heinze, C, Johannessen, T, Körtzinger, A, Metzl, N, Olafsson, J, Olsen, A, Oschlies, A, Padin, XA, Pfeil, B, Santana-Casiano, JM, Steinhoff, T, Telszewski, M, Rios, AF, Wallace, DWR & Wanninkhof, R 2009, 'Tracking the variable North Atlantic sink for atmospheric CO₂', Science, vol. 326, no. 5958, pp. 1391-1393. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1177394

TY - JOUR

T1 - Tracking the variable North Atlantic sink for atmospheric CO2

AU - Watson, Andrew J.

AU - Schuster, Ute

AU - Bakker, Dorothee C. E.

AU - Bates, Nicholas R.

AU - Corbière, Antoine

AU - González-Dávila, Melchor

AU - Friedrich, Tobias

AU - Hauck, Judith

AU - Heinze, Christoph

AU - Johannessen, Truls

AU - Körtzinger, Arne

AU - Metzl, Nicolas

AU - Olafsson, Jon

AU - Olsen, Are

AU - Oschlies, Andreas

AU - Padin, X. Antonio

AU - Pfeil, Benjamin

AU - Santana-Casiano, J. Magdalena

AU - Steinhoff, Tobias

AU - Telszewski, Maciej

AU - Rios, Aida F.

AU - Wallace, Douglas W. R.

AU - Wanninkhof, Rik

PY - 2009

Y1 - 2009

N2 - The oceans are a major sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2 Historically, observations have been too sparse to allow accurate tracking of changes in rates of CO2 uptake over ocean basins, so little is known about how these vary. Here, we show observations indicating substantial variability in the CO2 uptake by the North Atlantic on time scales of a few years. Further, we use measurements from a coordinated network of instrumented commercial ships to define the annual flux into the North Atlantic, for the year 2005, to a precision of about 10%. This approach offers the prospect of accurately monitoring the changing ocean CO2 sink for those ocean basins that are well covered by shipping routes.

AB - The oceans are a major sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2 Historically, observations have been too sparse to allow accurate tracking of changes in rates of CO2 uptake over ocean basins, so little is known about how these vary. Here, we show observations indicating substantial variability in the CO2 uptake by the North Atlantic on time scales of a few years. Further, we use measurements from a coordinated network of instrumented commercial ships to define the annual flux into the North Atlantic, for the year 2005, to a precision of about 10%. This approach offers the prospect of accurately monitoring the changing ocean CO2 sink for those ocean basins that are well covered by shipping routes.

U2 - 10.1126/science.1177394

DO - 10.1126/science.1177394

M3 - Article

VL - 326

SP - 1391

EP - 1393

JO - Science

JF - Science

SN - 0036-8075

IS - 5958

ER -