Simulations of the carbon cycle in the oceans

Technical Report · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1991

OSTI ID:5382092

Sarmiento, J L

A perturbation approach for simulating carbon dioxide uptake which estimates oceanic uptake of CO{sub 2} in excess of 2 GtC/yr over the last decade is being readied for publication. The recent estimate of <1 GtC/yr is believed to be due to an undersampling bias. A major effort was put into studies of the effect of iron fertilization on uptake of anthropogenic CO{sub 2} by the oceans. We find that while fertilization will reduce the CO{sub 2} increase, it will not reverse the trend. Also, iron fertilization may double nitrous oxide flux out of the ocean, partially canceling the CO{sub 2} reduction and having an unknown effect on the ozone layer. A paper in preparation describes the three-dimensional seasonal variations in nitrogen concentration in the ocean. The model does a reasonable job of matching observations, although performance could be improved by adjusting the biological parameters and increasing the physical resolution. A dual-currency carbon-nitrogen model is being constructed, with a first version recently completed. (MHB)

• Research Organization: Princeton Univ., NJ (United States). Dept. of Geological and Geophysical Sciences
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: FG02-90ER61052
• OSTI ID: 5382092
• Report Number(s): DOE/ER/61052-1; ON: DE91018475
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540120 -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring &amp; Transport-- (1990-)
540320* -- Environment
Aquatic-- Chemicals Monitoring &amp; Transport-- (1990-)
58 GEOSCIENCES
580000 -- Geosciences
AIR-WATER INTERACTIONS
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BOX MODELS
CARBON 13
CARBON 14
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON CYCLE
CARBON DIOXIDE
CARBON ISOTOPES
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
COMPUTER CODES
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
DOCUMENT TYPES
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
ELEMENTS
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
H CODES
IRON
ISOTOPE RATIO
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
MASS TRANSFER
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
METALS
NATURAL OCCURRENCE
NITROGEN
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NITROGEN CYCLE
NITROGEN OXIDES
NITROUS OXIDE
NONMETALS
NUCLEI
OCEANIC CIRCULATION
OCEANOGRAPHY
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PROGRESS REPORT
RADIOISOTOPES
SEAS
SEASONAL VARIATIONS
SIMULATION
STABLE ISOTOPES
SURFACE WATERS
THREE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
VARIATIONS
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES