Abstract
Concentrations of total carbonate, alkalinity and dissolved oxygen were obtained near the 1973 GEOSECS stations in the North Pacific subpolar region north of 40°N along 175°E between 1993 and 1994. A difference of excess CO2 content between the GEOSECS and our expeditions was estimated. The maximum difference in water column inventory of excess CO2 has increased by about 280 gC m−2 above 2000 m depth which apparently means an uptake of excess CO2 taken from air to sea during the last two decades. An averaged value of the annual flux of excess CO2 at 75–1000 m depth was 8.63±2.01 gC m−2yr−1 in the North Pacific subpolar region. By introducing the annual flux of excess CO2 into a two-box model for the North Pacific subpolar region, a penetration factor of excess CO2 from air to sea was obtained to be 1.08×10−2 gC m−3ppm−1 in the North Pacific subpolar region. Based on this factor, the surface concentration of excess CO2 in the North Pacific subpolar region was estimated to be 68 μmole I−1, suggesting that the North Pacific subpolar region absorbed atmospheric excess CO2 more than the saturated concentration of excess CO2. Total amount of excess CO2 taken from the North Pacific subpolar region by 1993 was estimated to be 36.2×1015 gC, which was equal to about one tenth of that released by human activities after the preindustrial era.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Broecker, W. S., D. W. Spencer and H. Craig (1982):GEOSECS Pacific Expedition—Hydrographic Data 1973–1974. National Science Foundation.
Chen, C. T. A. (1982): Oceanic penetration of excess CO2 in a cross section between Alaska and Hawaii.Geophys. Res. Lett.,9, 117–119.
Culberson, C. H. (1991): Dissolved oxygen. In:World Ocean Circulation Experiment: WOCE Operation Manual,3, WOCE Report No. 68/91.
Dickson, A. G. and C. Goyet (eds.) (1991):Handbook of Methods for the Analysis of the Various Parameters of the Carbon Dioxide System in Sea Water, version 1.0. Prepared for the U.S. Dept. of Energy, SRGP-89-7A.
Edmond, J. M. (1970): High precision determination of titration alkalinity and total carbon dioxide of seawater by potentiometric titration.Deep-Sea Res.,17, 737–750.
Fine, R. A., J. L. Reid and H. G. Ostlund (1981): Circulation of tritium in the Pacific Ocean.J. Phys. Oceanogr.,11, 3–14.
Gamo, T. and Y. Horibe (1980): Precise determination of dissolved gases in water by shipboard gas chromatography.Bull. Chem. Soc. Jpn.,53, 2839–2842.
Keeling, C. D. (1994): Atmospheric CO2 concentrations—Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii, 1958–1993. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center's Numeric Data Package, NDP-001/R4.
Ono, T., S. Watanabe and S. Tsunogai (1995): Total carbon dioxide in the western North Pacific. p. 406–411. In:Proc. of the 1994 Sapporo IGBP Symposium 14–17 November 1994, ed. by S. Tsunogai et al., Hokkaido University, Sapporo.
Reid, J. L. (1965): Intermediate Waters of the Pacific Ocean.The Johns Hopkins Oceanogr. Study,2, 85 pp.
Sarmiento, J. L. and J. C. Orr (1992): A perturbation simulation of CO2 uptake in an ocean general circulation model.J. Geophys. Res.,97, 3621–3645.
Siegenthaler, U. and J. L. Sarmiento (1993): Atmospheric carbon dioxide and the ocean.Nature,365, 119–125.
Tally, L. D. (1988): Potential vorticity distribution in the North Pacific.J. Phys. Oceanogr.,18, 89–106.
Tally, L. D. (1991): An Okhotsk Sea water anomaly: implications for ventilation in the North Pacific.Deep-Sea Res.,38, 171–190.
Tsunogai, S., T. Ono and S. Watanabe (1993): Increase on total carbonate in the western North Pacific water and a hypothesis on missing sink of anthropogenic carbon.J. Oceanogr.,49, 305–315.
Unesco (1991): Reference materials for oceanic carbon dioxide measurements.Unesco Technical Papers in Marine Science,60.
VanScoy, K. M., R. A. Fine and H. G. Ostlund (1991): Two decades of mixing tritium into the North Pacific Ocean.Deep-Sea Res.,38, Suppl. 1, S191-S219.
Warner, M. J. and R. F. Weiss (1985): Vertical distributions of anthropogenic chlorofluoromethanes in the North Pacific along 24°N and 47°N.EOS,66, 928.
Watanabe, Y. W. and K. Harada (1995): Flux of carbon dioxide in the North Pacific studied with multiple chemical tracers. p. 393–399. In:Proc. of the 1994 Sapporo IGBP Symposium, 14–17 November 1994, ed. by S. Tsunogai et al., Hokkaido University, Sapporo.
Watanabe, Y. W., S. Watanabe and S. Tsunogai (1991): Tritium in the northwestern North Pacific.J. Oceanogr. Soc. Jpn.,47, 80–93.
Watanabe, Y. W., K. Harada and K. Ishikawa (1994): Chrolofluorocarbons in the central North Pacific and southward spreading time of North Pacific Intermediate water.J. Geophys. Res.,99, 25195–25213.
Watanabe, Y. W., K. Harada and K. Ishikawa (1995): Dilution of North Pacific Intermediate Water studied with chrolofluorocarbons.J. Oceanogr.,51, 133–144.
Watanabe, Y. W., A. Ishida, M. Tamaki, K. Okuda and M. Fukasawa (1996): Water column inventories of chlorofluorocarbons and production rate of intermediate water in the North Pacific.Deep-Sea Res. (to be submitted).
Weiss, R. F. and H. Craig (1973): Precise shipboard determination of dissolved nitrogen, argon and total inorganic carbon by gas chromatography.Deep-Sea Res.,20, 291–303.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Watanabe, Y.W., Takahashi, Y., Kitao, T. et al. Total amount of oceanic excess CO2 taken from the North Pacific subpolar region. J Oceanogr 52, 301–312 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02235925
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02235925