Search

Reservoirs are considered as important carbon source of the atmosphere, whilst, regional and global reservoir CO 2 quantification is hampered by data limitation and bias in spatial and temporal sampling. By deploying chamber measurements and employing the newly developed model of gas transfer velocity, CO 2 partial pressure ( p CO 2 ) and evasion in the main stem of the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) were investigated. The p CO 2 ranged from 429 to 8668 μatm with an average of 2511.6 ± 1721.3 μatm, 6.1-fold higher than the ambient air p CO 2 (mean: 410 μatm). All the samples were net CO 2 sources via water-air interface, displaying pronounced spatial and monthly variability. The CO 2 areal flux averaged 212.5 ± 120.1 mmol/m 2 /d in June, 123.3 ± 78.5 mmol/m 2 /d in July in the lotic TGR main stream, much higher than its lentic system, i.e., 79.6 ± 41.3 mmol/m 2 /d in November, and 76.3 ± 88.1 mmol/m 2 /d in March. Much lower k levels in the lentic reservoir surface resulted in lower CO 2 evasion rates. Furthermore, dam impoundment considerably altered the riverine carbon cycle, as reflected by the changing magnitude of CO 2 efflux and environmental controls of dissolved CO 2 . Precipitation and concurrent soil CO 2 influx exhibited a central role in controlling riverine p CO 2 , and respiration of allochthonous organic carbon was a secondary factor in the TGR lotic system, whilst, both in-stream metabolism and terrestrial inputs played crucial roles in controlling aqueous CO 2 in the TGR lentic system. In comparison, we provided key findings of k model and more reliable CO 2 quantification with a consideration of water level shifts and a complete coverage of spatial sampling. Our higher CO 2 emission (1.47 (1.16–2.13) Tg CO 2 /y) than previous studies called more field measurements to assess the resulting changes in CO 2 flux owing to dam operation and changing environment, and their implications for regional carbon budgets should be warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding how the ocean absorbs anthropogenic CO2 is critical for predicting climate change. We designed 'Sniffle', a new autonomous drifting buoy with a floating chamber, to measure gas transfer velocities and air–sea CO2 fluxes with high spatiotemporal resolution. Currently, insufficient 'in situ' data exist to verify gas transfer parameterizations at low wind speeds (

Carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes between the ocean and atmosphere (FCO2) are commonly computed from differences between their partial pressures of CO2 (ΔpCO2) and the gas transfer velocity (k). Commonly used wind-based parameterizations for k imply a zero intercept, although in situ field data below 4 m s−1 are scarce. Considering a global average wind speed over the ocean of 6.6 m s−1, a nonzero intercept might have a significant impact on global FCO2. Here, we present a database of 245 in situ measurements of k obtained with the floating chamber technique (Sniffle), 190 of which have wind speeds lower than 4 m s−1. A quadratic parameterization with wind speed and a nonzero intercept resulted in the best fit for k. We further tested FCO2 calculated with a different parameterization with a complementary pCO2 observation-based product. Furthermore, we ran a simulation in a well-tested ocean model of intermediate complexity to test the implications of different gas transfer velocity parameterizations for the natural carbon cycle. The global ocean observation-based analysis suggests that ignoring a nonzero intercept results in an ocean-sink increase of 0.73 Gt C yr−1. This corresponds to a 28% higher uptake of CO2 compared with the flux calculated from a parameterization with a nonzero intercept. The differences in FCO2 were higher in the case of low wind conditions and large ΔpCO2 between the ocean and atmosphere. Such conditions occur frequently in the Tropics.

The North Atlantic is an important basin for the global ocean's uptake of anthropogenic and natural carbon dioxide (CO2), but the mechanisms controlling this carbon flux are not fully understood. The air-sea flux of CO2, F, is the product of a gas transfer velocity, k, the air-sea CO2 concentration gradient, Δ pCO2, and the temperature- and salinity-dependent solubility coefficient, α. k is difficult to constrain, representing the dominant uncertainty in F on short (instantaneous to interannual) timescales. Previous work shows that in the North Atlantic, Δ pCO2 and k both contribute significantly to interannual F variability but that k is unimportant for multidecadal variability. On some timescale between interannual and multidecadal, gas transfer velocity variability and its associated uncertainty become negligible. Here we quantify this critical timescale for the first time. Using an ocean model, we determine the importance of k, Δ pCO2, and α on a range of timescales. On interannual and shorter timescales, both Δ pCO2 and k are important controls on F. In contrast, pentadal to multidecadal North Atlantic flux variability is driven almost entirely by Δ pCO2; k contributes less than 25%. Finally, we explore how accurately one can estimate North Atlantic F without a knowledge of nonseasonal k variability, finding it possible for interannual and longer timescales. These findings suggest that continued efforts to better constrain gas transfer velocities are necessary to quantify interannual variability in the North Atlantic carbon sink. However, uncertainty in k variability is unlikely to limit the accuracy of estimates of longer-term flux variability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The atmosphere-ocean exchange of climatically important gases is determined by the transfer velocity ( k) and concentration gradient across the interface. Based on observations in the northwestern subarctic Pacific and Sagami Bay, we report here the results of the first ever application of the natural abundance of triple isotopes of dissolved oxygen (16O, 17O and 18O) for direct estimation of k and propose a new relationship with wind speed. The k values estimated from nighttime variations in oxygen isotopes are found to be higher than the direct estimations at low wind speed (<5 m s−1) and lower at high wind speeds (>13 m s−1) and showed significant spatial variability. The method presented here can be used to derive seasonal and spatial variations in k and the influence of surface conditions on the value, leading to improved estimates of biogenic/anthropogenic gas exchange at the air-sea interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]