Internal climate variability modulates decadal changes in ocean anthropogenic carbon storage
The ocean removes man-made (anthropogenic) carbon from the atmosphere and thereby mitigates climate change. Observations from global hydrographic surveys reveal the spatial and temporal evolution of the ocean inventory of anthropogenic carbon and suggest substantial decadal variability in historical...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
|
| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ada2ad |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1841551885546291200 |
|---|---|
| author | Holly C Olivarez Nicole S Lovenduski Elizabeth Maroon Jens D Müller Amanda R Fay Kristen M Krumhardt Michael N Levy Keith Lindsay Galen A McKinley Jamin K Rader |
| author_facet | Holly C Olivarez Nicole S Lovenduski Elizabeth Maroon Jens D Müller Amanda R Fay Kristen M Krumhardt Michael N Levy Keith Lindsay Galen A McKinley Jamin K Rader |
| author_sort | Holly C Olivarez |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The ocean removes man-made (anthropogenic) carbon from the atmosphere and thereby mitigates climate change. Observations from global hydrographic surveys reveal the spatial and temporal evolution of the ocean inventory of anthropogenic carbon and suggest substantial decadal variability in historical storage rates. Here, we use a 100-member ensemble of an Earth system model to investigate the influence of external forcing and internal climate variability on historical changes in ocean anthropogenic carbon storage over 1994 to 2014. Our findings reveal that the externally forced, decadal changes in storage are largest in the Atlantic (2–4 mmol m ^−3 decade ^−1 ) and positive nearly everywhere. Internal climate variability modulates regional ocean anthropogenic carbon storage trends by up to 10 mmol m ^−3 decade ^−1 . The influence of internal climate variability on decadal storage changes is most prominent at depths of ∼300 m and at the edges of the subtropical gyres. Internal variability in anthropogenic carbon in the extratropics has high spectral power on decadal to multi-decadal timescales, indicating that the approximately decadal repetitions of hydrographic surveys may produce storage change estimates that are heavily influenced by internal climate variability. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-a3e9c939582d447591af245b334562eb |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-a3e9c939582d447591af245b334562eb2025-01-09T14:55:26ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262025-01-0120101407010.1088/1748-9326/ada2adInternal climate variability modulates decadal changes in ocean anthropogenic carbon storageHolly C Olivarez0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8994-7967Nicole S Lovenduski1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5893-1009Elizabeth Maroon2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1660-7822Jens D Müller3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3137-0883Amanda R Fay4https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3534-1932Kristen M Krumhardt5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8980-056XMichael N Levy6https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6553-2153Keith Lindsay7https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3672-1665Galen A McKinley8https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4072-9221Jamin K Rader9https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2204-5977Department of Environmental Studies, University of Colorado , Boulder, CO, United States of America; Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado , Boulder, CO, United States of AmericaInstitute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado , Boulder, CO, United States of America; Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of Colorado , Boulder, CO, United States of AmericaDepartment of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison , Madison, WI, United States of AmericaEnvironmental Physics, Institute of Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics , ETH Zürich, Zürich, SwitzerlandColumbia University and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory , Palisades, NY, United States of AmericaClimate and Global Dynamics Laboratory, NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research , Boulder, CO, United States of AmericaClimate and Global Dynamics Laboratory, NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research , Boulder, CO, United States of AmericaClimate and Global Dynamics Laboratory, NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research , Boulder, CO, United States of AmericaColumbia University and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory , Palisades, NY, United States of AmericaDepartment of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University , Fort Collins, CO, United States of AmericaThe ocean removes man-made (anthropogenic) carbon from the atmosphere and thereby mitigates climate change. Observations from global hydrographic surveys reveal the spatial and temporal evolution of the ocean inventory of anthropogenic carbon and suggest substantial decadal variability in historical storage rates. Here, we use a 100-member ensemble of an Earth system model to investigate the influence of external forcing and internal climate variability on historical changes in ocean anthropogenic carbon storage over 1994 to 2014. Our findings reveal that the externally forced, decadal changes in storage are largest in the Atlantic (2–4 mmol m ^−3 decade ^−1 ) and positive nearly everywhere. Internal climate variability modulates regional ocean anthropogenic carbon storage trends by up to 10 mmol m ^−3 decade ^−1 . The influence of internal climate variability on decadal storage changes is most prominent at depths of ∼300 m and at the edges of the subtropical gyres. Internal variability in anthropogenic carbon in the extratropics has high spectral power on decadal to multi-decadal timescales, indicating that the approximately decadal repetitions of hydrographic surveys may produce storage change estimates that are heavily influenced by internal climate variability.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ada2adocean anthropogenic carbon storageocean biogeochemistryCESM2 large ensemblemarine carbon cycleocean modelinginternal climate variability |
| spellingShingle | Holly C Olivarez Nicole S Lovenduski Elizabeth Maroon Jens D Müller Amanda R Fay Kristen M Krumhardt Michael N Levy Keith Lindsay Galen A McKinley Jamin K Rader Internal climate variability modulates decadal changes in ocean anthropogenic carbon storage Environmental Research Letters ocean anthropogenic carbon storage ocean biogeochemistry CESM2 large ensemble marine carbon cycle ocean modeling internal climate variability |
| title | Internal climate variability modulates decadal changes in ocean anthropogenic carbon storage |
| title_full | Internal climate variability modulates decadal changes in ocean anthropogenic carbon storage |
| title_fullStr | Internal climate variability modulates decadal changes in ocean anthropogenic carbon storage |
| title_full_unstemmed | Internal climate variability modulates decadal changes in ocean anthropogenic carbon storage |
| title_short | Internal climate variability modulates decadal changes in ocean anthropogenic carbon storage |
| title_sort | internal climate variability modulates decadal changes in ocean anthropogenic carbon storage |
| topic | ocean anthropogenic carbon storage ocean biogeochemistry CESM2 large ensemble marine carbon cycle ocean modeling internal climate variability |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ada2ad |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT hollycolivarez internalclimatevariabilitymodulatesdecadalchangesinoceananthropogeniccarbonstorage AT nicoleslovenduski internalclimatevariabilitymodulatesdecadalchangesinoceananthropogeniccarbonstorage AT elizabethmaroon internalclimatevariabilitymodulatesdecadalchangesinoceananthropogeniccarbonstorage AT jensdmuller internalclimatevariabilitymodulatesdecadalchangesinoceananthropogeniccarbonstorage AT amandarfay internalclimatevariabilitymodulatesdecadalchangesinoceananthropogeniccarbonstorage AT kristenmkrumhardt internalclimatevariabilitymodulatesdecadalchangesinoceananthropogeniccarbonstorage AT michaelnlevy internalclimatevariabilitymodulatesdecadalchangesinoceananthropogeniccarbonstorage AT keithlindsay internalclimatevariabilitymodulatesdecadalchangesinoceananthropogeniccarbonstorage AT galenamckinley internalclimatevariabilitymodulatesdecadalchangesinoceananthropogeniccarbonstorage AT jaminkrader internalclimatevariabilitymodulatesdecadalchangesinoceananthropogeniccarbonstorage |