Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Home » Relating Estimates of Natural and Anthropogenic Carbon to the 3-Dimensional Circulation of the Pacific Ocean
Atmospheric Chemistry, Carbon Cycle and Climate (AC4) logo

Relating Estimates of Natural and Anthropogenic Carbon to the 3-Dimensional Circulation of the Pacific Ocean

  • Year Funded: 2011
  • Principal Investigators: Alison MacDonald, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and Mecking Sabine, University of Washington
  • Programs: Atmospheric Chemistry, Carbon Cycle and Climate (AC4)
  • carbon, Ocean Circulation
  • Google Scholar Link

The goal of the project is to quantitatively determine, using a previously completed observationally based synthesis of Pacific circulation: the zonal, meridional and vertical patterns and magnitudes of total inorganic carbon and anthropogenic carbon (CANT) transport in the Pacific; how CANT transports differ depending upon the derivation of the CANT estimates; the pattern of CO2 uptake and outgassing that is consistent with the observed circulation; whether the observed carbon circulation is consistent with pCO2 based air-sea flux estimates of uptake and out gassing; and how the observed patterns of transport explain Pacific carbon inventories during the 1990s, as well as more recent estimates. The answers to these questions will provide insight into how changes in Pacific Ocean circulation such as a slow down in the deep overturn would affect source/sink and storage/inventory patterns of CANT in the basin.

Scroll to Top