ALBERT

Description: The Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas (SOCAT), an activity of the international marine carbon research community, provides access to synthesis and gridded fCO2 (fugacity of carbon dioxide) products for the surface oceans. Version 2 of SOCAT is an update of the previous release (version 1) with more data (increased from 6.3 million to 10.1 million surface water fCO2 values) and extended data coverage (from 1968–2007 to 1968–2011). The quality control criteria, while identical in both versions, have been applied more strictly in version 2 than in version 1. The SOCAT website (http://www.socat.info/) has links to quality control comments, metadata, individual data set files, and synthesis and gridded data products. Interactive online tools allow visitors to explore the richness of the data. Applications of SOCAT include process studies, quantification of the ocean carbon sink and its spatial, seasonal, year-to-year and longerterm variation, as well as initialisation or validation of ocean carbon models and coupled climate-carbon models.

Description: The Southern Ocean (44° S–75° S) plays a critical role in the global carbon cycle, yet remains one of the most poorly sampled ocean regions. Different approaches have been used to estimate sea-air CO2 fluxes in this region: synthesis of surface ocean observations, ocean biogeochemical models, and atmospheric and ocean inversions. As part of the RECCAP (REgional Carbon Cycle Assessment and Processes) project, we combine these different approaches to quantify and assess the magnitude and variability in Southern Ocean sea-air CO2 fluxes between 1990–2009. Using all models and inversions (26), the integrated median annual sea-air CO2 flux of −0.42 ± 0.07 Pg C yr−1 for the 44° S–75° S region is consistent with the −0.27 ± 0.13 Pg C yr−1 calculated using surface observations. The circumpolar region south of 58° S has a small net annual flux (model and inversion median: −0.04 ± 0.07 Pg C yr−1 and observations: +0.04 ± 0.02 Pg C yr−1), with most of the net annual flux located in the 44° S to 58° S circumpolar band (model and inversion median: −0.36 ± 0.09 Pg C yr−1 and observations: −0.35 ± 0.09 Pg C yr−1). Seasonally, in the 44° S–58° S region, the median of 5 ocean biogeochemical models captures the observed sea-air CO2 flux seasonal cycle, while the median of 11 atmospheric inversions shows little seasonal change in the net flux. South of 58° S, neither atmospheric inversions nor ocean biogeochemical models reproduce the phase and amplitude of the observed seasonal sea-air CO2 flux, particularly in the Austral Winter. Importantly, no individual atmospheric inversion or ocean biogeochemical model is capable of reproducing both the observed annual mean uptake and the observed seasonal cycle. This raises concerns about projecting future changes in Southern Ocean CO2 fluxes. The median interannual variability from atmospheric inversions and ocean biogeochemical models is substantial in the Southern Ocean; up to 25% of the annual mean flux with 25% of this inter-annual variability attributed to the region south of 58° S. Trends in the net CO2 flux from the inversions and models are not statistically different from the expected increase of –0.05 Pg C yr−1 decade−1 due to increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations. However, resolving long term trends is difficult due to the large interannual variability and short time frame (1990–2009) of this study.

Description: The Iceland Sea is one part of the Nordic Seas. Cold Arctic Water prevails there and the deep-water is an important source of North Atlantic Deep Water. We have evaluated time series observations of measured pCO2 and total CO2 concentration from discrete seawater samples during 1985–2008 for the surface and 1994–2008 for deep-water, and following changes in response to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide. The surface pH in winter decreases at a rate of 0.0024 yr−1, which is 50% faster than average yearly rates at two subtropical time series stations, BATS and ESTOC. In the deep-water regime (〉1500 m), the rate of pH decline is a quarter of that observed in surface waters. The surface seawater carbonate saturation states (Ω) are about 1.5 for aragonite and 2.5 for calcite, about half of levels found in subtropical surface waters. During 1985–2008, the degree of saturation (Ω) decreased at an average rate of 0.0072 yr−1 for aragonite and 0.012 yr−1 for calcite. The aragonite saturation horizon is currently at 1710 m and shoaling at 4 m yr−1. Based on this rate of shoaling and on the local hypsography, each year another 800 km2 of seafloor becomes exposed to waters that have become undersaturated with respect to aragonite.

Description: Experimental and theoretical studies on the growth rate of an icicle were carried out as a function of temperature, water-supply rate and wind speed; the relative humidity was also taken into account. The length of an icicle increases by the downward growth of thin dendritic crystals into the supercooled pendant water drop at the tip, and thus the growth is in the crystallographica-axis direction. The diameter, on the other hand, increases by the freezing of a water film flowing down along the icicle wall. The ratio of measured length-and diameter-growth rates was large, namely 8–32.Both growth rates increased with decreasing temperature and increasing wind speed. The increase in water-supply rate led to the decrease in the length-growth rate but no significant change in the diameter-growth rate. These results could be well described by a numerical model of icicle growth which takes account of the dendritic growth at the tip and the wall and the effective heat transfer within the turbulent boundary layer around the icicle. A formation mechanism of ribs and hollows is discussed in relation to the flowing and freezing process of water on an icicle wall.

Description: Experimental and theoretical studies on the growth rate of an icicle were carried out as a function of temperature, water-supply rate and wind speed; the relative humidity was also taken into account. The length of an icicle increases by the downward growth of thin dendritic crystals into the supercooled pendant water drop at the tip, and thus the growth is in the crystallographic a-axis direction. The diameter, on the other hand, increases by the freezing of a water film flowing down along the icicle wall. The ratio of measured length-and diameter-growth rates was large, namely 8–32.Both growth rates increased with decreasing temperature and increasing wind speed. The increase in water-supply rate led to the decrease in the length-growth rate but no significant change in the diameter-growth rate. These results could be well described by a numerical model of icicle growth which takes account of the dendritic growth at the tip and the wall and the effective heat transfer within the turbulent boundary layer around the icicle. A formation mechanism of ribs and hollows is discussed in relation to the flowing and freezing process of water on an icicle wall.

Description: This paper describes the ways and means of assembling and quality controling the Irminger Sea and Iceland Sea time-series biogeochemical data which are included in the CARINA data set. The Irminger Sea and the Iceland Sea are hydrographically different regions where measurements of sea water carbon and nutrient chemistry were started in 1983. The sampling is seasonal, four times a year. The carbon chemistry is studied with measurements of the partial pressure of carbon dioxide in seawater, pCO2, and total dissolved inorganic carbon, TCO2. The carbon chemistry data are for surface waters only until 1994 when water column sampling was initiated. Other measured parameters are salinity, dissolved oxygen and the inorganic nutrients nitrate, phosphate and silicate. Because of the CARINA criteria for secondary quality control, depth 〉1500 m, the IRM-TS could not be included in the routine QC and the IS-TS only in a limited way. However, with the information provided here, the quality of the data can be assessed e.g. on the basis of the results obtained with the use of reference materials.

Description: The Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas (SOCAT) is an effort by the international marine carbon research community. It aims to improve access to carbon dioxide measurements in the surface oceans by regular releases of quality controlled and fully documented synthesis and gridded fCO2 (fugacity of carbon dioxide) products. SOCAT version 2 presented here extends the data set for the global oceans and coastal seas by four years and has 10.1 million surface water fCO2 values from 2660 cruises between 1968 and 2011. The procedures for creating version 2 have been comparable to those for version 1. The SOCAT website (http://www.socat.info/) provides access to the individual cruise data files, as well as to the synthesis and gridded data products. Interactive online tools allow visitors to explore the richness of the data. Scientific users can also retrieve the data as downloadable files or via Ocean Data View. Version 2 enables carbon specialists to expand their studies until 2011. Applications of SOCAT include process studies, quantification of the ocean carbon sink and its spatial, seasonal, year-to-year and longer-term variation, as well as initialisation or validation of ocean carbon models and coupled-climate carbon models.

Description: Accurate assessment of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and their redistribution among the atmosphere, ocean, and terrestrial biosphere is important to better understand the global carbon cycle, support the development of climate policies, and project future climate change. Here we describe data sets and a methodology to quantify all major components of the global carbon budget, including their uncertainties, based on the combination of a range of data, algorithms, statistics and model estimates and their interpretation by a broad scientific community. We discuss changes compared to previous estimates, consistency within and among components, alongside methodology and data limitations. CO2 emissions from fossil-fuel combustion and cement production (EFF) are based on energy statistics, while emissions from land-use change (ELUC), mainly deforestation, are based on combined evidence from land-cover change data, fire activity associated with deforestation, and models. The global atmospheric CO2 concentration is measured directly and its rate of growth (GATM) is computed from the annual changes in concentration. The mean ocean CO2 sink (SOCEAN) is based on observations from the 1990s, while the annual anomalies and trends are estimated with ocean models. The variability in SOCEAN is evaluated for the first time in this budget with data products based on surveys of ocean CO2 measurements. The global residual terrestrial CO2 sink (SLAND) is estimated by the difference of the other terms of the global carbon budget and compared to results of independent dynamic global vegetation models forced by observed climate, CO2 and land cover change (some including nitrogen–carbon interactions). All uncertainties are reported as ±1σ, reflecting the current capacity to characterise the annual estimates of each component of the global carbon budget. For the last decade available (2003–2012), EFF was 8.6 ± 0.4 GtC yr−1, ELUC 0.9 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1, GATM 4.3 ± 0.1 GtC yr−1, SOCEAN 2.5 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1, and SLAND 2.8 ± 0.8 GtC yr−1. For year 2012 alone, EFF grew to 9.7 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1, 2.2% above 2011, reflecting a continued growing trend in these emissions, GATM was 5.1 ± 0.2 GtC yr−1, SOCEAN was 2.9 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1, and assuming an ELUC of 1.0 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1 (based on the 2001–2010 average), SLAND was 2.7 ± 0.9 GtC yr−1. GATM was high in 2012 compared to the 2003–2012 average, almost entirely reflecting the high EFF. The global atmospheric CO2 concentration reached 392.52 ± 0.10 ppm averaged over 2012. We estimate that EFF will increase by 2.1% (1.1–3.1%) to 9.9 ± 0.5 GtC in 2013, 61% above emissions in 1990, based on projections of world gross domestic product and recent changes in the carbon intensity of the economy. With this projection, cumulative emissions of CO2 will reach about 535 ± 55 GtC for 1870–2013, about 70% from EFF (390 ± 20 GtC) and 30% from ELUC (145 ± 50 GtC). This paper also documents any changes in the methods and data sets used in this new carbon budget from previous budgets (Le Quéré et al., 2013). All observations presented here can be downloaded from the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (doi:10.3334/CDIAC/GCP_2013_V2.3).