Flux of anthropogenic carbon into the deep Greenland Sea

Abstract

Measurements of the carbonate system and the transient tracers, CFC‐11 and carbon tetrachloride (CCl4), in the Greenland Sea and western Eurasian Basin are used to deduce the sources and magnitude of excess dissolved inorganic carbon in the deep Greenland Sea. The salinity in the deep Greenland Sea has increased during the past 20 years as a result of Arctic Ocean water advecting into the area. From salinity and temperature data the relative amount of advective water below 1500 m is estimated to ∼2% yr−1 between 1982 and 1994. Data from the western Eurasian Basin, collected during the Oden 91 cruise, are used as the advective source waters. A mixing box model is applied to estimate the evolution of CFCs and anthropogenic total dissolved inorganic carbon in the deep waters of the Greenland Sea since preindustrial times. The source functions are the surface water concentrations of CFC‐11, CCl4, and total dissolved inorganic carbon CT, which are the result of anthropogenic emission. In order to explain the measured CFC data in the Greenland Sea an annual percent renewal by deep water formation of between 0.5 and 1.2% is needed below 1500 m, corresponding to a mean ventilation of 0.17±0.05 Sv, considering realistic uncertainties in the calculations. This ventilation gives a sequestering of anthropogenic carbon dioxide, which in 1994 equaled 2.4±0.7×1012 g C yr−1.