Oceanic CO sub 2 uptake and future atmospheric CO sub 2 concentrations

Conference · Mon Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1990

OSTI ID:6583463

Peng, Tsung-Hung

Models of the lateral transport of surface water in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans are proposed on the basis of the distribution pattern of bomb-produced {sup 14}C in the ocean as observed during the Geochemical Ocean Sections Study program. The global pattern of water column inventories of bomb-produced {sup 14}C suggests that an upwelling of bomb-{sup 14}C-free water takes place in the Antarctic, northern Pacific, and equatorial regions, whereas a downwelling of bomb-{sup 14}C-rich surface waters occurs in the temperate oceans and northern Atlantic. A global model of the closed ocean-atmosphere system is constructed on the basis of these dynamic flows for the purpose of estimating the oceanic uptake of excess CO{sub 2}. The model uses four scenarios of future CO{sub 2} emissions from fossil fuel consumption and tropical deforestation to predict atmospheric CO{sub 2} concentrations. Although the resulting patterns of predicted CO{sub 2} levels are similar to those in the report given by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the uptake of CO{sub 2} from fossil fuel in the lateral transport model is more efficient than that in the general box-diffusion models used by IPCC: that is, all predictions from the model are lower than those given by IPCC. 12 refs., 7 figs., 1 tab.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE/ER
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-84OR21400
• OSTI ID: 6583463
• Report Number(s): CONF-9009164-2; ON: DE90017762
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540120 -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
540320* -- Environment
Aquatic-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
990200 -- Mathematics & Computers
ATLANTIC OCEAN
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CARBON 14
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON DIOXIDE
CARBON ISOTOPES
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CLIMATES
COMBUSTION
DEFORESTATION
DISTRIBUTION
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
ENERGY SOURCES
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GENERAL CIRCULATION MODELS
GREENHOUSE EFFECT
INDIAN OCEAN
INVENTORIES
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
MASS TRANSFER
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NUCLEI
OCEANIC CIRCULATION
OXIDATION
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PACIFIC OCEAN
RADIOISOTOPES
SEAS
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION
SURFACE WATERS
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
UPTAKE
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES