Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Ocean biogeochemistry

Carbon at the coastal interface

The extent to which coastal-ocean regions act as a sink for carbon dioxide has been enigmatic. An estimate based on more than 3 million observations suggests a smaller sink than was thought, concentrated at high latitudes.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Global map of air–sea CO2 fluxes.

References

  1. Pauly, D. & Christensen, V. Nature 374, 255–257 (1995).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Tsunogai, S., Watanabe, S. & Sato, T. Tellus B. 51, 701–712 (1999).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Ciais, P. et al. in Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Stocker, T. F. et al.) Ch. 6, 465–570 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2013).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Laruelle, G. G., Lauerwald, R., Pfeil, B. & Regnier, P. Glob. Biogeochem. Cycles http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2014GB004832 (2014).

  5. Bauer, J. E. et al. Nature 504, 61–70 (2013).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Bakker, D. C. E. et al. Earth Syst. Sci. Data 6, 69–90 (2014).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Gruber, N. et al. Glob. Biogeochem. Cycles 23, GB1005 (2009).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Takahashi, T. et al. Deep Sea Res. Part II Top. Stud. Oceanogr. 56, 554–577 (2009).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Doney, S. C. Science 328, 1512–1516 (2010).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Regnier, P. et al. Nature Geosci. 6, 597–607 (2013).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Koch, N. et al. Energy Policy 73, 676–685 (2014).

    Google Scholar 

  12. Landschützer, P. et al. Glob. Biogeochem. Cycles 28, 927–949 (2014).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nicolas Gruber.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Gruber, N. Carbon at the coastal interface. Nature 517, 148–149 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14082

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14082

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing