Carbon Dioxide in the Surface Water of the Ice-covered Bering Sea

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.