Spatial and temporal trends of anthropogenic carbon storage in typical marginal seas along the Asia continent in the northern hemisphere

Peng Huang; Weimin Wang; Fajin Chen; Minggang Cai; Hongwei Ke; Mian Liu; Hengxiang Deng; Mian Chen; Xuehong Zheng; Chunhui Wang

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153580

Spatial and temporal trends of anthropogenic carbon storage in typical marginal seas along the Asia continent in the northern hemisphere

Sci Total Environ. 2022 Jun 1:823:153580. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153580. Epub 2022 Feb 3.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ College of Ocean and Meteorology, Guangdong Ocean University, Zhanjiang 524088, China; Resources and Environment in Continental Shelf Sea and Deep Sea of Department of Education of Guangdong Province, Key Laboratory of Climate, Guangdong Ocean University, Zhanjiang 524088, China; Laboratory for Coastal Ocean Variation and Disaster Prediction, College of Ocean and Meteorology, Guangdong Ocean University, Zhanjiang 524088, China.
² College of Ocean and Earth Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, College of Ocean and Earth Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China; Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory for Coastal Ecology and Environmental Studies, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China; College of Ocean and Earth Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China. Electronic address: mgcai@xmu.edu.cn.

PMID: 35124046
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153580

Abstract

Global climate change is an indisputable fact, and anthropogenic disturbances are the likely driving mechanisms; moreover, marginal seas tend to respond faster than the global ocean. In this study, the transit time distribution method was used to estimate the anthropogenic carbon (C_ant) in the typical marginal seas along the west side of North Pacific Ocean and the Arctic Ocean. From the South China Sea (SCS) to the Arctic Ocean (AO), the range of C_ant storage gradually increased with latitude. The maximum and minimum rates of ~0.6 mol C·m^-2·yr^-1, and ~0.2 mol C·m^-2·yr^-1 were seen in the AO and SCS, respectively. In the short term, warming and decline of ice cover may promote the transfer of excess CO₂ from the atmosphere to the water interior; but on a longer time scale, a positive feedback (i.e., reduced CO2 absorption) may occur due to warming. Accordingly, the AO will likely no longer be a CO₂ sink in the future when the sea ice disappears completely.

Keywords: Anthropogenic carbon; Inventory; Marginal sea; Transient tracer.

MeSH terms

Arctic Regions
Carbon*
Ice Cover
Oceans and Seas
Seawater*

Substances

Carbon