In:
Science, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Vol. 326, No. 5958 ( 2009-12-04), p. 1391-1393
Abstract:
The oceans are a major sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). Historically, observations have been too sparse to allow accurate tracking of changes in rates of CO 2 uptake over ocean basins, so little is known about how these vary. Here, we show observations indicating substantial variability in the CO 2 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 CO 2 sink for those ocean basins that are well covered by shipping routes.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
0036-8075
,
1095-9203
DOI:
10.1126/science.1177394
Language:
English
Publisher:
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Publication Date:
2009
detail.hit.zdb_id:
128410-1
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2066996-3
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2060783-0
SSG:
11
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