Surface CO2 Flux maps

Working with our colleagues at NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) CO₂ group, we are contributing to the development of monthly CO₂ maps that will estimate fluxes over the past three decades. Over the last few years, we have presented annual global air-sea CO₂ flux estimates based on empirical approaches relating in situ measurements with satellite observations of wind and sea surface temperature in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society annual report on the state of the climate (Sabine et al., 2008; 2009). The latest empirical approach for quantifying the air-sea CO₂ exchange utilizing in situ, climatological and satellite data is described in Park et al. (2010).

The Park et al. manuscript presents the interannual variability of net sea-air CO₂ flux for the period 1982–2007 from a diagnostic model using empirical subannual relationships between climatological CO₂ partial pressure in surface seawater (pCO_2SW) and sea surface temperature (SST), along with interannual changes in SST and wind speed. These optimum subannual relationships show significantly better correlation between pCO_2SW and SST than the previous relationships using fixed monthly boundaries. Our diagnostic model yields an interannual variability of ±0.14 Pg C yr^-1 (1σ) with a 26-year mean of -1.48 Pg C yr^-1.

The figure above shows the global distribution of air-sea CO₂ flux anomalies in 2009 compared to 28-year mean values as calculated using the Park et al. (2010) approach. Positive values indicate less uptake or more release of CO₂ by the ocean. Data provided by Geun-Ha Park. Figure provided by Joaquin Trinanes.

Monthly flux maps and anomalies from 1982-2009 can be created at the AOML interactive website.

References:

Feely, R.A., T. Takahashi, R. Wanninkhof, M.J. McPhaden, C.E. Cosca, S.C. Sutherland, and M.-E. Carr (2006): Decadal variability of the air-sea CO₂ fluxes in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. J. Geophys. Res., 111(C08), C08S90, doi: 10.1029/2005JC003129.

Sabine, C.L., R.A. Feely, R. Wanninkhof, and T. Takahashi, 2008: The global ocean carbon cycle. In State of the Climate in 2007, D. H. Levinson and J. H. Lawrimore (eds.). Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 89(7), S52–S56.

Sabine, C.L., R.A. Feely, R. Wanninkhof, and T. Takahashi, 2009: The global ocean carbon cycle. In State of the Climate in 2008, D. H. Levinson and J. H. Lawrimore (eds.). Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 90(8), S65–S68.

Park, G.-H., R. Wanninkhof, S.C. Doney, T. Takahashi, K. Lee, R.A. Feely, C. Sabine, J. Triñanes, and I. Lima, 2010: Variability of global air-sea CO₂ fluxes over the last three decades. Tellus, 62B(5), doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0889.2010.00498.x, 352–368..