Influence of El Niño on the equatorial Pacific contribution to atmospheric CO2 accumulation

Richard A. Feely (), Rik Wanninkhof, Taro Takahashi and Pieter Tans
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Richard A. Feely: Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, NOAA
Rik Wanninkhof: Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, NOAA
Taro Takahashi: Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University
Pieter Tans: Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory

Nature, 1999, vol. 398, issue 6728, 597-601

Abstract: Abstract The equatorial oceans are the dominant oceanic source of CO2 to the atmosphere, annually amounting to a net flux of 0.7–1.5 Pg (1015 g) of carbon, up to 72% of which emanates from the equatorial Pacific Ocean1,2,3. Limited observations indicate that the size of the equatorial Pacific source is significantly influenced by El Niño events4,5,6,7,8,9,10, but the effect has not been well quantified. Here we report spring and autumn multiannual measurements of the partial pressure of CO2 in the surface ocean and atmosphere in the equatorial Pacific region. During the 1991–94 El Niño period, the derived net annual sea-to-air flux of CO2 was 0.3 Pg C from autumn 1991 to autumn 1992, 0.6 Pg C in 1993, and 0.7 Pg C in 1994. These annual fluxes are 30–80% of that of 1996, a non-El-Niño year. The total reduction of the regional sea-to-air CO2 flux during the 1991–94 El Niño period is estimated to account for up to one-third of the atmospheric anomaly (the difference between the annual and long-term-average increases in global atmospheric CO2 content) observed over the same period.

Date: 1999
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DOI: 10.1038/19273

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