Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/C00387X/1
Quantifying marine uptake of anthropogenic CO2 - a model-based methodological assessment
Grant Award
- Principal Investigator:
- Professor A Oschlies, University of Southampton, Sch of Ocean and Earth Science
- Co-Investigator:
- Dr AJ Nurser, National Oceanography Centre, Science and Technology
- Grant held at:
- University of Southampton, Sch of Ocean and Earth Science
- Science Area:
- Marine
- Atmospheric
- Overall Classification:
- Marine
- ENRIs:
- Global Change
- Science Topics:
- Biogeochemical Cycles
- Ocean Circulation
- Ocean - Atmosphere Interact.
- Climate & Climate Change
- Abstract:
- Much of the global temperature increase observed during the last 50 years is attributed to human activities, in particular to emissions of greenhouse gases of which CO2 is the most important one. At present, only about half of the CO2 emissions accumulate in the atmosphere. The fate of the other half is not very well known, and the question for how long it will be closed away from the atmosphere gives rise to some concern. A recent analysis of the inorganic carbon distributions measured in a joint effort of major international ocean research programs, indicates that the ocean has taken up about 48% of the total fossil-fuel and cement-manufacturing CO2 emissions since the beginning of the industrial period in the late 18th century (Sabine et al., 2004). In this analysis the still relatively small (typically less than 5%) anthropogenic CO2 contribution is calculated from the measured total dissolved inorganic carbon by correcting for carbon fluxes caused by the marine biology and by using tracer ages to estimate atmospheric CO2 concentrations at the time the respective water parcel was last in contact with the atmosphere. Such approaches rely on a number of assumptions such as a steady state of the oceanic circulation, of the marine biology, and of the air-sea pCO2 disequilibrium as well as negligible turbulent mixing and correct tracer-derived age estimates. None of these assumptions is exactly valid. Although violations are generally believed to have only a small effect on the estimated uptake of anthropogenic CO2, this has not been properly investigated in a quantitative manner. The proposed research project will carefully evaluate the validity of these assumptions and of the presently used methods to estimate anthropogenic CO2 in the context of a global biogeochemical-physical ocean circulation model. In the model context the 'true' anthropogenic CO2 field is exactly known, and the impact of all assumptions can be quantified in a series of sensitivity experiments. The results of these sensitivity experiments will be used to develop improvements to the presently used methods of estimating anthropogenic CO2 in the ocean. The methodological improvements will be validated within the model context, and collaborations with observational oceanographers from other institutions in the UK and in Europe are planned in order to apply the emerging best method to the available global ocean data sets and to obtain a more accurate description of the anthropogenic CO2 distribution in the ocean.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/C00387X/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Standard Grants Pre FEC
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Standard Grant
This grant award has a total value of £194,353
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Total - Staff | Total - T&S | Total - Other Costs | Total - Indirect Costs | Total - Equipment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £125,054 | £3,206 | £1,250 | £57,525 | £7,318 |
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