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Climate-driven changes to the atmospheric CO2 sink in the subtropical North Pacific Ocean

Nature volume 424, pages 754–757 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

The oceans represent a significant sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide1. Variability in the strength of this sink occurs on interannual timescales, as a result of regional and basin-scale changes in the physical and biological parameters that control the flux of this greenhouse gas into and out of the surface mixed layer2,3. Here we analyse a 13-year time series of oceanic carbon dioxide measurements from station ALOHA in the subtropical North Pacific Ocean near Hawaii4, and find a significant decrease in the strength of the carbon dioxide sink over the period 1989–2001. We show that much of this reduction in sink strength can be attributed to an increase in the partial pressure of surface ocean carbon dioxide caused by excess evaporation and the accompanying concentration of solutes in the water mass. Our results suggest that carbon dioxide uptake by ocean waters can be strongly influenced by changes in regional precipitation and evaporation patterns brought on by climate variability.

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Figure 1: Variability and trends in surface mixed layer salinity (S), temperature (T), dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and total alkalinity (TA) at station ALOHA.
Figure 2: Seasonal patterns in important CO2 system parameters at station ALOHA, 1989–2001.
Figure 3: Interannual variability and trends in pCO2atm, pCO2oce and the sea–air flux of CO2 at station ALOHA.
Figure 4: Salinity effect on annual net sea–air fluxes of CO2 at station ALOHA.

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Acknowledgements

We thank past and present HOT programme scientists and staff, seagoing support personnel and the crews of the many research vessels used to collect these data. We also thank the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Department of Energy for access to critical meteorological and atmospheric CO2 data sets. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Oceanography, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii, 1000 Pope Road, Honolulu, Hawaii, 96822, USA

    John E. Dore, Roger Lukas, Daniel W. Sadler & David M. Karl

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  1. John E. Dore
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  2. Roger Lukas
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Correspondence to John E. Dore.

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Dore, J., Lukas, R., Sadler, D. et al. Climate-driven changes to the atmospheric CO2 sink in the subtropical North Pacific Ocean. Nature 424, 754–757 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01885

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