Carbon flux and distribution in the Antarctic zone

Abstract

The high increasing trend of CO2 emissions is one of the most threatening factors of climate change. Although atmospheric CO2 concentrations are already historically high, the ocean uptake (about 30% of the emissions) is mitigating its effects. Despite of the ocean value controlling climate change, not all the areas contribute to the CO2 sink the same. The Southern Ocean is responsible for the 43% of the total ocean anthropogenic carbon sink. However, the efficiency of this carbon uptake relies on physical and chemical phenomena as vertical mixing or thermal effect. In this paper, we assess the evolution of anthropogenic carbon content in the Atlantic section of Southern Ocean between 2008 and 2014. For this aim we used available data from three different cruises. We found that the diminution in the uptake trend between 1980 and 2006 is still noticeable in deep waters. However, subsuperficial waters showed an increase in anthropogenic carbon content of 1.8±0.8 mol m-2 y-1, as a consequence of the reinforcement of carbon uptake since 2006. Finally, the formation of Antarctic Intermediate Water proved to be an efficient mechanisms of CO2 transport into the interior ocean.