Poster at the 7th international carbon dioxide conference, Colorado, IUSA, Sept 25-30,
2005.
Decline of the sink for atmospheric CO2 in the mid-latitude North Atlantic
Ute Schuster and Andrew J. Watson.
School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ,
UK
Abstract
Measurements of surface carbon dioxide properties made from commercial ships
trading regularly between the UK and the Caribbean show that, across the mid
latitudes of the North Atlantic, the flux of CO2 from the atmosphere to the ocean
decreased by ~60% from the mid nineties up to 2004. We attribute most of this
change to a decrease in the rate of ventilation and mixing between surface and deeper
waters in the North Atlantic.