HR: 0830h
AN: OS31C-0214    [PDF]
TI: Seasonal and Interannual Variability of the Carbon Exchange Coefficient Between the Ocean and the Atmosphere
AU: * Schmeltz, M
EM: marjorie.schmeltz@jpl.nasa.gov
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, MS 300/323 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 United States
AU: Carr, M
EM: mec@pacific.jpl.nasa.gov
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, MS 300/323 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 United States
AB: We use wind speed data from the Special Sensing Microwave Imager (SSM/I), sea-surface temperature (SST) and salinity, to compute the carbon exchange coefficient (K) between the ocean and the atmosphere. The computation is performed on the finest spatial and temporal available grid, i.e., weekly on a 1/4 degree grid, between 1992 and 2002 and over the entire ocean. On average, the Pacific basin is the area with the least seasonal variability, whereas the Indian basin shows the highest variability, with peaks at 0.095 (in moles CO2 kg{-1} microatm{-1} cm hour-1) around week 30-31 (end of July).The Atlantic basin shows the lowest value (about 0.058) around week 32 (mid-august). The interannual variability shows a slight increase in the exchange coefficient, probably related to an increase in wind speed. The carbon flux is also computed using K and the air-sea CO2 pressure difference and shows that the uptake by the ocean is mostly concentrated in the south eastern part of South America, in the south western part of the Indian Ocean and south of Greenland, whereas the Equatorial region, especially in the west part of the Pacific, releases up to 10 Gt C per year (for an area of 4x5 degrees). This release is also observed in the north western part of the Indian Ocean (around the Oman Sea).
DE: 0312 Air/sea constituent fluxes (3339, 4504)
DE: 1699 General or miscellaneous
SC: Ocean Sciences [OS]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting