96/04360 Emissions of CO 2 from biomass production and transportation in agriculture and foresty

Abstract

Recent oceanographic advances in the Pacific Ocean have important implications on the disposal of CO2 into the intermediate and deep ocean. The turnover time for the deep water in marginal basins of the North Pacific, i.e. Japan, Okhotsk and Bering Seas, is 100 years or less, instead of 1,000 years in previous work. The turnover time in the Arctic Basins, i.e. Eurasia and Canadian Basins, is about 300 years. The vertical diffusivity in the intermediate ocean is much smaller: 0.1 to 0.3 cm2 s−1, instead of about 1 cm2 s−1 in earlier studies. The classical picture of the CO2 Conveyor has to be modified since the return flow of the deep Pacific waters does not intensely upwell to the upper ocean. Instead, the deep Pacific waters flow southward at mid-depth and join the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. This lengthens the residence time of the deep water in the North Pacific Basin to 500 years. The smaller diffusivity and longer path for the Pacific Bottom Water would delay the return to the atmosphere of any disposed CO2.