Abstract
DETERMINATION of the equilibrium concentration of CO2 in the ocean surface with respect to air is necessary in order to understand the interaction of CO2 between the atmosphere and the ocean. The concentration of CO2 in water depends on its physical, chemical and biological properties. The oceans, therefore, act as both sources and sinks for CO2 in the air. Keeling1 reported that high concentrations of CO2 in the ocean appeared near the equator and were lower in the sub-tropics of all oceans. Areas along the west coasts of continents where upwelling occurs have high CO2 concentrations. In the polar regions, patterns are more complicated primarily because of a lack of seasonal data. Measurements of the equilibrium concentration of CO2 with respect to air in the surface waters of the Kara and Barents Seas during the late summer showed that the surface waters were supersaturated with CO2 near the mouths of the Ob and Yenisey Rivers and undersaturated in the Barents Sea2. The present study was undertaken to measure the actual distribution of CO2 between the atmosphere and the sea over open leads and polynyi in the ice-covered Bering Sea. Previous measurements of CO2 in ice-covered seas were made by Kelley3 in the water under the Arctic Ocean pack ice near Ice Island T-3.
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References
Keeling, C. D., J. Geophys. Res., 73, 4543 (1968).
Kelley, jun., J. J., Limnol. Oceanog., 15, 80 (1970).
Kelley, jun., J. J., Nature, 218, 862 (1968).
Kelley, jun., J. J., and Hanson, A., R/V Oceanographer Cruise Rep. (Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, in the press).
Whitman, W. I., and Schule, jun., J. J., Proc. Symp. on the Arctic Heat Budget and Atmospheric Circulation (Memorandum RM 5233-NSF, The Rand Corporation, 217 1966).
Badgley, F. I., Proc. Symp. on the Arctic Heat Budget and Atmospheric Circulation (Memorandum RM 5233-NSF 267, 1966).
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KELLEY, J., HOOD, D. Carbon Dioxide in the Surface Water of the Ice-covered Bering Sea. Nature 229, 37–39 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1038/229037b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/229037b0
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