Effectiveness of CO{sub 2} sequestration in the pre- and post-industrial oceans
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA (United States)
- Univ. of Victoria, British Columbia (Canada). Center for Earth and Ocean Research
- Science Applications International Corp., Bellevue, WA (United States)
Ocean carbon cycle modeling is expected to play a key role in decisions concerning the purposeful sequestration of CO{sub 2} in the oceans. Modeling is probably the only practical way to know how much good sequestration is doing, or would do if implemented, since even with sequestration, atmospheric CO{sub 2} would be expected to continue to increase because of the release of non-sequestered CO{sub 2} and the return to the atmosphere of sequestered CO{sub 2}. The authors have employed a carbon cycle model based on an ocean general circulation model to estimate the return of sequestered CO{sub 2} to the atmosphere for sequestration in the pre-industrial ocean at sites near Tokyo, San Francisco, New York and Miami. Significant differences in the effectiveness of sequestration are found. Off the East Coast of the US, the atmospheric concentration due to the return of sequestered CO{sub 2} quickly rises to near the final equilibrium value, for all depths below about 800 m. Off the West Coast of the US, the CO{sub 2} is effectively hidden from the atmosphere for several hundred years, for depths below 800 m. Then the atmospheric concentration rises to larger values than for sequestration off the East Coast. Sequestration off the coast of Japan at 800 m is similar to sequestration off the West Coast of the US, but without the time delay. These predicted differences are understandable in terms of ocean circulation. Sequestration in the post-industrial ocean beginning in the year 2000 has been modeled also and sites near tokyo and New York. This calculation includes additional CO{sub 2} from a representation of anthropogenic CO{sub 2} for the entire fossil fuel era. No-sequestered CO{sub 2} tends to flush the sequestered CO{sub 2} out of the ocean by reducing the concentration of the carbonate ion, with which CO{sub 2} reacts.
- OSTI ID:
- 624039
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9610136--
- Journal Information:
- Waste Management, Journal Name: Waste Management Journal Issue: 5-6 Vol. 17; ISSN WAMAE2; ISSN 0956-053X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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