Storms drive outgassing of CO2 in the subpolar Southern Ocean

Sarah-Anne Nicholson (), Daniel B. Whitt, Ilker Fer, Marcel D. Plessis, Alice D. Lebéhot, Sebastiaan Swart, Adrienne J. Sutton and Pedro M. S. Monteiro
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Sarah-Anne Nicholson: Southern Ocean Carbon-Climate Observatory (SOCCO), CSIR
Daniel B. Whitt: National Center for Atmospheric Research
Ilker Fer: University of Bergen
Marcel D. Plessis: Southern Ocean Carbon-Climate Observatory (SOCCO), CSIR
Alice D. Lebéhot: Southern Ocean Carbon-Climate Observatory (SOCCO), CSIR
Sebastiaan Swart: University of Gothenburg
Adrienne J. Sutton: NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory
Pedro M. S. Monteiro: Southern Ocean Carbon-Climate Observatory (SOCCO), CSIR

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract The subpolar Southern Ocean is a critical region where CO2 outgassing influences the global mean air-sea CO2 flux (FCO2). However, the processes controlling the outgassing remain elusive. We show, using a multi-glider dataset combining FCO2 and ocean turbulence, that the air-sea gradient of CO2 (∆pCO2) is modulated by synoptic storm-driven ocean variability (20 µatm, 1–10 days) through two processes. Ekman transport explains 60% of the variability, and entrainment drives strong episodic CO2 outgassing events of 2–4 mol m−2 yr−1. Extrapolation across the subpolar Southern Ocean using a process model shows how ocean fronts spatially modulate synoptic variability in ∆pCO2 (6 µatm2 average) and how spatial variations in stratification influence synoptic entrainment of deeper carbon into the mixed layer (3.5 mol m−2 yr−1 average). These results not only constrain aliased-driven uncertainties in FCO2 but also the effects of synoptic variability on slower seasonal or longer ocean physics-carbon dynamics.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-27780-w

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