Ocean-atmosphere turbulent CO₂ fluxes at Drake Passage and Bransfield Strait

Abstract

The oceans play an important role in mitigating climate change by acting as large carbon sinks, especially at high latitude regions. The Southern Ocean plays a major role in the global carbon dioxide (CO₂) budget. This work aims to investigate the behavior of turbulent CO₂ fluxes and quantify it under different atmospheric and oceanic conditions in the Drake Passage and Bransfield Strait regions on high spatiotemporal resolutions when compared with traditional CO₂ fluxes estimations. The atmospheric stability condition was used to corroborate the description of CO₂ fluxes. In situ, satellite, and reanalysis data from 08 to 22 November 2018, were used in this work. The Bransfield Strait uptaked 38.59% more CO₂ than the Drake Passage due to the cold and fresh waters, allied to the influence of glacial meltwater dilution. Which increased the CO₂ solubility, directing the CO₂ fluxes to the ocean. The Bransfield Strait had predominantly stable atmospheric conditions, which contributed to this region acting as a CO₂ sink. The Drake Passage, on average, behaved as a CO₂ sink, mainly due to physical characteristics. This research contributes to a better understanding of the Southern Ocean’s role in the global carbon balance on scales that are very difficult to monitor.

Key words
carbon flux; sea-air interaction; carbon sinks; Antarctic Peninsula