Search

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2005.09.001 Byline: F. Touratier (a), C. Goyet (a), C. Coatanoan (b), C. Andrie (c) Keywords: Carbon cycle; Water mass; Atlantic Ocean; Tropical belt Abstract: With a limited number of properties (salinity, temperature, total dissolved inorganic carbon, total alkalinity, and oxygen) from a recent cruise in the tropical Atlantic Ocean, we use the simple and recent approach TrOCA (Tracer combining Oxygen, inorganic Carbon, and total Alkalinity) to estimate the distribution of anthropogenic CO.sub.2 along three latitudinal sections. In order to assess the quality of the anthropogenic CO.sub.2 distribution, results from the method are compared to the CFC-11 measurements. We discuss the large-scale distribution of the main water masses of the tropical Atlantic Ocean in the light of the anthropogenic CO.sub.2 and the CFC-11 distributions. Keeping in mind that the anthropogenic CO.sub.2 emission began [approximately equal to]60 years earlier than that of CFC-11, the former provides new insight on the local circulation and efficiency of the tropical waters to store the atmospheric carbon. Author Affiliation: (a) BDSI, Universite de Perpignan Via Domitia, 52 avenue Paul Alduy, 66860 Perpignan, France (b) IFREMER, Centre de Brest, BP 70, 29280 Plouzane, France (c) LODYC, CNRS/IRD/Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, 4 place Jussieu, case 100, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France Article History: Received 24 February 2005; Revised 7 September 2005; Accepted 19 September 2005

A study was conducted to analyze spatial differences in the total carbon dioxide and alkalinity in the northern Indian Ocean. Measurements were carried out between Sep to Oct 1995. A new approach to compute anthropogenic CO2 in the ocean based on the fundamentals of water-sources mixing. was utilized. Results indicated large spatial differences in surface seawater of both total CO2 and total alkalinity that were correlated with physical processes characterized by water masses of different temperature and salinity.

The French program Coriolis as part of the French oceanographic operational system produces the COriolis dataset for Re-Analysis (CORA) on a yearly basis which is based on temperature and salinity measurements on observed levels from different data types. The latest release of CORA covers the period 1990 to 2010. To qualify this dataset, several tests have been developed to improve in a homogeneous way the quality of the raw dataset and to fit the level required by the physical ocean re-analysis activities (assimilation and validation). These include some simple tests, climatological tests and a model background check based on a global ocean reanalysis. Visual qual ity control (QC) is performed on all suspicious temperature (T ) and salinity (S) profiles identified by the tests and quality flags are modified in the dataset if necessary. In addition, improved diagnostic tools were developed - including global ocean indicators - which give information on the potential and quality of the CORA dataset for all applications. This Coriolis product is available on request through the MyOcean Service Desk (http://www.myocean.eu/). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: With a limited number of properties (salinity, temperature, total dissolved inorganic carbon, total alkalinity, and oxygen) from a recent cruise in the tropical Atlantic Ocean, we use the simple and recent approach TrOCA (Tracer combining Oxygen, inorganic Carbon, and total Alkalinity) to estimate the distribution of anthropogenic CO2 along three latitudinal sections. In order to assess the quality of the anthropogenic CO2 distribution, results from the method are compared to the CFC-11 measurements. We discuss the large-scale distribution of the main water masses of the tropical Atlantic Ocean in the light of the anthropogenic CO2 and the CFC-11 distributions. Keeping in mind that the anthropogenic CO2 emission began ∼60 years earlier than that of CFC-11, the former provides new insight on the local circulation and efficiency of the tropical waters to store the atmospheric carbon. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]