Abstract
A set of buffer factors is proposed which allows to compute changes of pH and pCO 2 resulting from an input or an output of bicarbonate, carbonate and proton ions in seawater. Results are compared to the well-known buffer factors that describe a dissolved CO 2 change (among which the Revelle factor β =dln(pCO 2)/dln| ΣCO 2|). It is pointed out that the actual β value can be quite different from the usual one (about 10) when other processes than air-sea exchanges are involved. Two examples of application are discussed: (1) A relationship is proposed to estimate β = dln(pCO 2)/dln| ΣCO 2| by taking into account simultaneous organic and inorganic carbon metabolism: β = −7.02 + 0.186%C org ( r 2 = 0.9994), where %C org is the percentage of carbon uptake for organic metabolism, (2) A relationship is proposed to calculate the amount of CO 2 that has to be exchanged with the atmosphere when adding strong acid to an equilibrated open seawater system.
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