2008年夏季加拿大海盆净二氧化碳吸收量评估

The third Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition(CHINARE) was conducted in the summer of 2008.During the survey,the surface seawater partial pressure of CO_2(pCO_2) was measured,and sea water samples were collected for CO_2 measurement in the Canada Basin.The distribution of pCO_2 in the Canada Basin was determined,the influencing factors were addressed,and the air-sea CO_2 flux in the Canada Basin was evaluated.The Canada Basin was divided into three regions:the ice-free zone(south of 77°N),the partially ice-covered zone(77°–80°N),and the heavily ice-covered zone(north of 80°N).In the ice-free zone,pCO_2 was high(320 to 368μatm,1 μatm=0.101 325 Pa),primarily due to rapid equilibration with atmospheric CO_2 over a short time.In the partially ice-covered zone,the surface pCO_2 was relatively low(250 to 270 μatm) due to ice-edge blooms and icemelt water dilution.In the heavily ice-covered zone,the seawater pCO_2 varied between 270 and 300 μatm due to biological CO_2 removal,the transportation of low pCO_2 water northward,and heavy ice cover.The surface seawater pCO_2 during the survey was undersaturated with respect to the atmosphere in the Canada Basin,and it was a net sink for atmospheric CO_2.The summertime net CO_2 uptake of the ice-free zone,the partially ice-covered zone and the heavily ice-covered zone was(4.14±1.08),(1.79±0.19),and(0.57±0.03) Tg/a(calculated by carbon,1Tg=10~(12) g),respectively.Overall,the net CO_2 sink of the Canada Basin in the summer of 2008 was(6.5±1.3) Tg/a,which accounted for 4%–10% of the Arctic Ocean CO_2 sink.     

东中国海碳循环时空变化特征:三维物理-生物地球化学数值模型研究

In the east of China's seas, there is a wide range of the continental shelf. The nutrient cycle and the carbon cycle in the east of China's seas exhibit a strong variability on seasonal to decadal time scales. On the basis of a regional ocean modeling system(ROMS), a three dimensional physical-biogeochemical model including the carbon cycle with the resolution(1/12)°×(1/12)° is established to investigate the physical variations, ecosystem responses and carbon cycle consequences in the east of China's seas. The ROMS-Nutrient Phytoplankton Zooplankton Detritus(NPZD) model is driven by daily air-sea fluxes(wind stress, long wave radiation, short wave radiation, sensible heat and latent heat, freshwater fluxes) that derived from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction(NCEP) reanalysis2 from 1982 to 2005. The coupled model is capable of reproducing the observed seasonal variation characteristics over the same period in the East China Sea. The integrated air-sea CO_2 flux over the entire east of China's seas reveals a strong seasonal cycle, functioning as a source of CO_2 to the atmosphere from June to October, while serving as a sink of CO_2 to the atmosphere in the other months. The 24 a mean value of airsea CO_2 flux over the entire east of China's seas is about 1.06 mol/(m~2·a), which is equivalent to a regional total of3.22 Mt/a, indicating that in the east of China's seas there is a sink of CO_2 to the atmosphere. The partial pressure of carbon dioxide in sea water in the east of China's seas has an increasing rate of 1.15 μatm/a(1μtm/a=0.101 325Pa), but p H in sea water has an opposite tendency, which decreases with a rate of 0.001 3 a~(–1) from 1982 to 2005.Biological activity is a dominant factor that controls the pCO_2 air in the east of China's seas, and followed by a temperature. The inverse relationship between the interannual variability of air-sea CO_2 flux averaged from the domain area and Ni?o3 SST Index indicates that the carbon cycle in the east of China's seas has a high correlation with El Ni?o-Southern Oscillation(ENSO).     

Impacts of a wind stress and a buoyancy flux on the seasonal variation of mixing layer depth in the South China Sea

The seasonal variation of mixing layer depth(MLD) in the ocean is determined by a wind stress and a buoyance flux.A South China Sea(SCS) ocean data assimilation system is used to analyze the seasonal cycle of its MLD.It is found that the variability of MLD in the SCS is shallow in summer and deep in winter,as is the case in general.Owing to local atmosphere forcing and ocean dynamics,the seasonal variability shows a regional characteristic in the SCS.In the northern SCS,the MLD is shallow in summer and deep in winter,affected coherently by the wind stress and the buoyance flux.The variation of MLD in the west is close to that in the central SCS,influenced by the advection of strong western boundary currents.The eastern SCS presents an annual cycle,which is deep in summer and shallow in winter,primarily impacted by a heat flux on the air-sea interface.So regional characteristic needs to be cared in the analysis about the MLD of SCS.     

Oceanic iron fertilization: one of strategies for sequestration atmospheric CO2

Carbon cycle is connected with the most important environmental issue of Global Change.As one of the major carbon reservoirs, oceans play an important part in the carbon cycle. In recent years, iron seems to give us a good news that oceanic iron fertilization could stimulate biological productivity as CO2 sink of human-produced CO2. Oceanic iron fertilization experiments have verified that adding iron into high nutrient low chlorophyll (HNLC) seawaters can increase phytoplankton production and export organic carbon, and hence increase carbon sink of anthropogenic CO2, to reduce global warming. In sixty days, the export organic carbon could reach 10 000 times for adding iron by model prediction and in situ experiment, i.e. the atmospheric CO2 uptake and inorganic carbon drawdown in upper seawaters also have the same magnitude. Therefore, oceanic iron fertilization is one of the strategies for increasing carbon sink of anthropogenic CO2. The paper is focused on the iron fertilization, especially in situ o     

Distributions and air-sea fluxes of CO2 in the summer Bering Sea

The 3rd Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition(CHINARE–Arctic III) was carried out from July to September in 2008. The partial pressure of CO2(pCO2) in the atmosphere and in surface seawater were determined in the Bering Sea during July 11–27, 2008, and a large number of seawater samples were taken for total alkalinity(TA) and total dissolved inorganic carbon(DIC) analysis. The distributions of CO2 parameters in the Bering Sea and their controlling factors were discussed. The pCO2 values in surface seawater presented a drastic variation from 148 to 563 μatm(1 μatm = 1.013 25×10-1 Pa). The lowest pCO2 values were observed near the Bering Sea shelf break while the highest pCO2 existed at the western Bering Strait. The Bering Sea generally acts as a net sink for atmospheric CO2 in summer. The air-sea CO2 fluxes in the Bering Sea shelf, slope, and basin were estimated at-9.4,-16.3, and-5.1 mmol/(m2·d), respectively. The annual uptake of CO2 was about 34 Tg C in the Bering Sea.     

A comparison of summer precipitation structures over the South China Sea and the East China Sea based on tropical rainfall measurementmission

The three-dimensional structures of summer precipitation over the South China Sea （SCS） and the East China Sea （ECS） are investigated based on tropical rainfall measurement mission （TRMM）. The primary results are as follows. First, both the convective and stratiform precipitation rates in the SCS are much higher than those of the ECS. The contribution of the convective cloud precipitation to the surface precipitation is primarily over the SCS and the ECS with a proportion of about 70%, but the contribution of convective cloud precipitation is slightly larger in the SCS than the ECS. The contribution of stratus precipitation is slightly larger in the ECS than that in the SCS. Second, the content of cloud particles and precipitation particles in the ECS in June was greater than that in the SCS, while in July and August, the content of cloud and precipitation particles in the ECS was less than that in the SCS. Third, the latent heat profile of the ECS is quite different from that of the SCS. In June, the peak values of evaporation and condensation latent heating rates in the ECS are greater than those in the SCS. In July and August, however, the peak values of evaporation and condensation latent heating rates in the ECS are about 0.05°/h less than those in the SCS.     

南海浅层经向翻转环流及相关的内部水体流动

The structure of the annual-mean shallow meridional overturning circulation(SMOC) in the South China Sea(SCS) and the related water movement are investigated,using simple ocean data assimilation(SODA) outputs.The distinct clockwise SMOC is present above 400 m in the SCS on the climatologically annual-mean scale,which consists of downwelling in the northern SCS,a southward subsurface branch supplying upwelling at around 10°N and a northward surface flow,with a strength of about 1×10~6 m~3/s.The formation mechanisms of its branches are studied separately.The zonal component of the annual-mean wind stress is predominantly westward and causes northward Ekman transport above 50 m.The annual-mean Ekman transport across 18°N is about 1.2×10~6 m~3/s.An annual-mean subduction rate is calculated by estimating the net volume flux entering the thermocline from the mixed layer in a Lagrangian framework.An annual subduction rate of about 0.66×10~6m~3/s is obtained between 17° and 20°N,of which 87% is due to vertical pumping and 13% is due to lateral induction.The subduction rate implies that the subdution contributes significantly to the downwelling branch.The pathways of traced parcels released at the base of the February mixed layer show that after subduction water moves southward to as far as 11°N within the western boundary current before returning northward.The velocity field at the base of mixed layer and a meridional velocity section in winter also confirm that the southward flow in the subsurface layer is mainly by strong western boundary currents.Significant upwelling mainly occurs off the Vietnam coast in the southern SCS.An upper bound for the annual-mean net upwelling rate between 10° and 15°N is 0.7×10~6m~3/s,of which a large portion is contributed by summer upwelling,with both the alongshore component of the southwest wind and its offshore increase causing great upwelling.     

Air-sea carbon fluxes and their controlling factors in the Prydz Bay in the Antarctic

The Prydz Bay in the Antarctic is an important area in the Southern Ocean due to its unique geographic feature. It plays an important role in the carbon cycle in the Southern Ocean. To investigate the distributions of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and surface seawater and its air-sea exchange rates in this region, the Chinese National Antarctic Research Expedition （CHINARE） had set up several sections in the Prydz Bay. Here we present the results from the CHINARE-XVI cruises were presented onboard R/V Xue/ong from November 1999 to April 2000 and the main driving forces were discussed controlling the distributions of partial pressure of carbon dioxide. According to the partial pressure of carbon dioxide distributions, the Prydz Bay can be divided into the inside and outside regions. The partial pressure of carbon dioxide was low in the inside region but higher in the outside region during the measurement period. This distribution had a good negative correlation with the concentrations of ehlorophyll-a in general, suggesting that the partial pressure of carbon dioxide was substantially affected by biological production. The results also indicate that the biological produetion is most likely the main driving force in the marginal ice zone in the Southern Ocean in summer. However, in the Antarctic divergence sector of the Prydz Bay （about 64°S）, the hydrological processes become the controlling factor as the sea surface partial pressure of carbon dioxide is much higher than the atmospheric one due to the upwelling of the high DIC CDW, and this made the outside of Prydz Bay a source of carbon dioxide. On the basis of the calculations, the CO2 flux in January （austral summer） was -3.23 mmol/（m^2 · d） in the inner part of Prydz Bay, i.e. , a sink of atmospheric CO2, and was 0.62 mmol/（m^2 · d） in the outside part of the bay, a weak source of atmospheric CO2. The average air-sea flux of CO2 in the Prydz Bay was 2.50 mmol/（m^2 · d）.     

Global air-sea surface carbon dioxide transfer velocity and flux estimated using 17 a altimeter data and a new algorithm

The global distributions of the air-sea CO2 transfer velocity and flux are retrieved from TOPEX/Poseidon and Jason altimeter data from October 1992 to December 2009 using a combined algorithm. The 17 a average global, area-weighted, Schmidt number-corrected mean gas transfer velocity is 21.26 cm/h, and the full exploration of the uncertainty of this estimate awaits further data. The average total CO2 flux （calculated by carbon） from atmosphere to ocean during the 17 a was 2.58 Pg/a. The highest transfer velocity is in the circumpolar current area, because of constant high wind speeds and currents there. This results in strong CO2 fluxes. CO2 fluxes are strong but opposite direction in the equatorial east Pacific Ocean, because the air-sea CO2 partial pressure difference is the largest in the global cceans. The results differ from the previous studies calculated using the wind speed. It is demonstrated that the air-sea transfer velocity is very important for estimating air-sea CO2 flux. It is critical to have an accurate estimation for improving calculation of CO2 flux within climate change studies.     

东海对台风云娜的海洋响应

Many typhoons pass through the East China Sea(ECS) and the oceanic responses to typhoons on the ECS shelf are very energetic. However, these responses are not well studied because of the complicated background oceanic environment. The sea surface temperature(SST) response to a severe Typhoon Rananim in August 2004 on the ECS shelf was observed by the merged cloud-penetrating microwave and infrared SST data. The observed SST response shows an extensive SST cooling with a maximum cooling of 3°C on the ECS shelf and the SST cooling lags the typhoon by about one day. A numerical model is designed to simulate the oceanic responses to Rananim.The numerical model reasonably simulates the observed SST response and thereby provides a more comprehensive investigation on the oceanic temperature and current responses. The simulation shows that Rananim deepens the ocean mix layer by more than 10 m on the ECS shelf and causes a cooling in the whole mixed layer. Both upwelling and entrainment are responsible for the cooling. Rananim significantly deforms the background Taiwan Warm Current on the ECS shelf and generates strong Ekman current at the surface. After the typhoon disappears, the surface current rotates clockwise and vertically, the current is featured by near inertial oscillation with upward propagating phase.     

Comparison of carbonate parameters and air–sea CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> flux in the southern Yellow Sea and East China Sea during spring and summer of 2011

In this work, we examined the carbonate parameters, i.e. total alkalinity (TA), pH, and partial pressure of CO₂ (pCO₂), and the air–sea CO₂ flux (FCO₂) in the continental shelves of the southern Yellow Sea (SYS) and East China Sea (ECS), based on two field surveys conducted in April and August of 2011. Surface pCO₂ showed significant spatial variations, ranging from 246 to 686 µatm in spring (average ± standard deviation = 379 ± 95 µatm) and from 178 to 680 µatm in summer (384 ± 114 µatm). During the spring cruise, the central SYS (pCO₂ < 240 µatm) and the Changjiang estuary (pCO₂ < 300 µatm) were under-saturated with CO₂, while the southern SYS and the southwestern ECS were supersaturated (pCO₂ = 420–680 µatm). In summer, however, the CO₂-supersaturated waters (pCO₂ = 380–680 µatm) occupied a relatively wide area, including the nearshore of the SYS and the Changjiang estuary, whereas pCO₂-deficient water (pCO₂ = 220–380 µatm) was observed only at the offshore ECS. In general, the entire SYS and ECS area behaved as a sustained CO₂ sink, with average FCO₂ of ?3.9 and ?2.1 mmol m^?2 d^?1 in spring and summer, respectively. Phytoplankton production was the driving force for CO₂ absorption, especially during the spring cruise. In addition, we found that typical water mixing processes and decomposition of terrestrial material were responsible for the release of CO₂ in three turbidity maximum regions.     

东海春季赤潮过程中优势种的演替:生物-物理耦合数值模拟

In the East China Sea(ECS), the succession of causative species responsible for blooms is a recurrent phenomenon during the spring, which changes from diatoms to dinoflagellates. Observations from space and in situ cruises captured this pattern of succession during spring of 2005. In this study, we coupled two biological models, which were developed previously for Skeletonema costatum and Prorocentrum donghaiense,into a circulation model tailored for the ECS. The coupled biophysical model was used to hindcast the blooms and to test the hypothesis proposed in earlier studies that phosphate(PO4 3–) is the first-order decider of the succession. The coupled model successfully reproduced the hydrodynamics(as described in a companion paper by Sun et al.(1), the spatiotemporal distribution of the chlorophyll a(Chl a) concentration, and the species succession reasonably well. By analyzing the effects of different factors on the surface Chl a distribution, we confirmed that the offshore boundaries of the blooms were confined by PO4 3–. In addition, we suggest that surface wind fields may modulate the horizontal distribution of blooms. Thus, during the dispersal of blooms, surface winds coupled with PO4 3– may control the succession of blooms in the ECS. The proposed coupled model provides a benchmark to facilitate future improvements by including more size classes for organisms, multiple nutrient schemes, and additional processes.     

南海北部冬、夏季浮游群落呼吸率

Plankton respiration is an important part of the carbon cycle and significantly affects the balance of autotrophic assimilation and heterotrophic production in oceanic ecosystems. In the present study, respiration rates of the euphotic zone plankton community(CR_(eu)), size fractionated chlorophyll a concentration(Chl a), bacterial abundance(BAC), and dissolved oxygen concentration(DO) were investigated during winter and summer in the northern South China Sea(n SCS). The results show that there were obvious spatial and temporal variations in CR_(eu) in the n SCS(ranging from 0.03 to 1.10 μmol/(L·h)), CR_(eu) in winter((0.53±0.27) μmol/(L·h)) was two times higher than that in summer((0.26±0.20) μmol/(L·h)), and decreased gradually from the coastal zone to the open sea. The distribution of CR_(eu) was affected by coupled physical-chemical-biological processes, driven by monsoon events. The results also show that CR_(eu) was positively correlated with Chl a, BAC, and DO, and that BAC contributed the highest CR_(eu) variability. Furthermore, the results of the stepwise multiple linear regression suggest that bacteria and phytoplankton were the dominant factors in determining CR_(eu)(R~2 = 0.82, p0.05) in the n SCS. Based on this relationship, we estimated the integrated water column respiration rate(CRint) within 100 m of the investigated area, and found that the relationship between the biomass of the plankton community and respiration may be nonlinear in the water column.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">S</Emphasis>-wave velocity structure and tectonic implications of the northwestern sub-basin and Macclesfield of the South China Sea

Based on the optimum P-wave model, the S-wave velocity structure of a wide angle seismic profile (OBS2006-1), across the northwestern sub-basin (NWSB) and the Macclesfield, is simulated by a 2-D ray-tracing method. The results indicate the S-wave velocities in the upper and lower crust of the NWSB are 3.2–3.6 km/s and 3.6–4.0 km/s, with Vp/Vs ratios of 1.82–1.88 and 1.74–1.82, respectively, which reflect typical oceanic crust characteristics. The S-wave velocity in the upper crust of the NWSB is a little higher in the NNW segment than that in the SSE segment, while the lateral variation of Vp/Vs ratio is in the opposite. We suggest that the NWSB might have experienced asymmetrical magma flows during sea floor spreading, which may have blurred the magnetic anomaly lineation. The comparison of S-wave velocities along the northern margin of the SCS shows that the west section is different from the east section, and the northwestern margin has a non-volcanic crust structure. The S-wave structures and P-wave velocity models along the northern margin, Macclesfield and Reed Bank show that the Macclesfield might have a conjugate relationship with the Reed Bank.     

Seasonal and interannual variability of carbon cycle in South China Sea: A three-dimensional physical-biogeochemical modeling study

The South China Sea (SCS) exhibits strong variations on seasonal to interannual time scale, and the changing Southeast Asian Monsoon has direct impacts on the nutrients and phytoplankton dynamics, as well as the carbon cycle. A Pacific basin-wide physical-biogeochemical model has been developed and used to investigate the physical variations, ecosystem responses, and carbon cycle consequences. The Pacific basin-wide circulation model, based on the Regional Ocean Model Systems (ROMS) with a 50-km spatial resolution, is driven with daily air-sea fluxes derived from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis between 1990 and 2004. The biogeochemical processes are simulated with the Carbon, Si(OH)₄, Nitrogen Ecosystem (CoSINE) model consisting of multiple nutrients and plankton functional groups and detailed carbon cycle dynamics. The ROMS-CoSINE model is capable of reproducing many observed features and their variability over the same period at the SouthEast Asian Time-series Study (SEATS) station in the SCS. The integrated air-sea CO₂ flux over the entire SCS reveals a strong seasonal cycle, serving as a source of CO₂ to the atmosphere in spring, summer and autumn, but acting as a sink of CO₂ for the atmosphere in winter. The annual mean sea-to-air CO₂ flux averaged over the entire SCS is +0.33 moles CO₂ m⁻²year⁻¹, which indicates that the SCS is a weak source of CO₂ to the atmosphere. Temperature has a stronger influence on the seasonal variation of pCO₂ than biological activity, and is thus the dominant factor controlling the oceanic pCO₂ in the SCS. The water temperature, seasonal upwelling and Kuroshio intrusion determine the pCO₂ differences at coast of Vietnam and the northwestern region of the Luzon Island. The inverse relationship between the interannual variability of Chl-a in summer near the coast of Vietnam and NINO₃ SST (Sea Surface Temperature) index in January implies that the carbon cycle and primary productivity in the SCS is teleconnected to the Pacific-East Asian large-scale climatic variability.     

南海北部莺歌海岭头岬近岸烃类渗漏喷口分布及气体地球化学

Natural hydrocarbon seeps in a marine environment are one of the important contributors to greenhouse gases in the atmosphere,including methane,which is significant to the global carbon cycling and climate change.Four hydrocarbon seep areas,the Lingtou Promontory,the Yinggehai Rivulet mouth,the Yazhou Bay and the Nanshan Promontory,occurring in the Yinggehai Basin delineate a near-shore gas bubble zone.The gas composition and geochemistry of venting bubbles and the spatial distribution of hydrocarbon seeps are surveyed on the near-shore Lingtou Promontory.The gas composition of the venting bubbles is mainly composed of CO_2,CH_4,N_2 and O_2,with minor amounts of non-methane hydrocarbons.The difference in the bubbles' composition is a possible consequence of gas exchange during bubble ascent.The seepage gases from the seafloor are characterized by a high CO_2 content(67.35%) and relatively positive δ~(13)C_(V_PDB) values(-0.49×10~(-3)-0.86×10~(-3)),indicating that the CO_2 is of inorganic origin.The relatively low CH_4 content(23%) and their negative δ~(13)C_(V-PDB) values(-34.43×10~(-3)--37.53×10~(-3)) and high ratios of C_1 content to C_(1-5) one(0.98-0.99)as well point to thermogenic gases.The hydrocarbon seeps on the 3.5 Hz sub-bottom profile display a linear arrangement and are sub-parallel to the No.1 fault,suggesting that the hydrocarbon seeps may be associated with fracture activity or weak zones and that the seepage gases migrate laterally from the central depression of the Yinggehai Basin.     

南海北部亚热带滨珊瑚对低温的耐受能力

Marginal scleractinian corals growing at their latitudinal limits should be quite sensitive to variations in winter sea surface temperatures(SSTs). An extreme cold event occurring in early 2008 offered a unique opportunity to examine the effect of cold-water anomalies on Porites lutea corals and their physiological tolerance and acclimation in the subtropical northern South China Sea(NSCS). Besides in-situ observation, a subsequent aquarium-based experiment was designed for reproducing the chilling process and a 50-year-long Sr/Ca ratio profile from two P. lutea skeletal slabs was analyzed for reconstructed the historical annual minimum SSTs which ceased Porites calcification. The 2008 low-temperature anomaly caused the minimum daily mean SSTs dropped below 13°C in the Daya Bay. The stress symptoms displayed by local P. lutea colonies included polyp retraction, reduced coloration and pale, but none showed tissue sloughing. The ability of P. lutea to survive implied its tolerance of extreme low temperatures. Here we suggest a model on the tolerance of high-latitude Porites under low-temperature stresses, which is when SSTs drop below 18°C, Porites corals contract their tentacles(losing heterotrophic capability), then cease calcification(reducing energy consumption), and meanwhile maintain relatively high levels of zooxanthellae density(sustaining host's life via photosynthetic capacity of symbiotic zooxanthellae). This study revealed remarkable acclimatization of P. lutea corals to low temperature extremes. This acclimatization is beneficial for Porites corals in the NSCS to expand their living ranges towards the higher-latitude areas and have the potential to be the incipient reef former.     

Features of the spatial distribution of phytoplankton in Nhatrang Bay of the South China Sea during the rainy season

The species composition, phytoplankton abundance, and relative yield of the variable fluorescence (F _v /F _m ) were determined in the mesotrophic Nhatrang Bay in October–November of 2004. The species diversity (250 taxonomic units) and heterogeneity of the phytoplankton structure were high. With respect to the number of species and their abundance, diatoms prevailed. In selected parts of the bay, dinoflagellates dominated. The mean biomass in the water column under 1 m² (B _t ) varied from 2.3 to 64.4 mg C/m³ being 31.0 mg C/m³ on average. The values of B _t were the lowest at the stations nearest to the river mouth. Seaward, B _t increased. The values of B _t increased with depth at some stations and decreased at others. In the surface sea layers, the biomass was lower than that in the underlying waters. The values of F _v /F _m ranged from 0.10 to 0.64 (at a mean value of 0.49). The lowest values of F _v /F _m were observed in the area close to the seaport. Over the greater part of the bay, the values of F _v /F _m were higher than 0.47. Such values are indicative of the relatively high potential photosynthetic activity of the phytoplankton. The abundance and species diversity were higher than those in the dry season (March–April).     

Uptake mechanism of anthropogenic CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> in the Kuroshio Extension region in an ocean general circulation model

The uptake mechanism of anthropogenic CO₂ in the Kuroshio Extension is examined by a Lagrangian approach using a biogeochemical model embedded in an ocean general circulation model. It is found that the uptake of anthropogenic CO₂ is caused mainly by the increase of pCO₂ dependency of seawater on temperature, which is caused by greater dissolved inorganic carbon concentration in the modern state than in the pre-industrial state. In contrast with the view of previous studies, the effect of the vertical entrainment, which brings waters that last contacted the atmosphere with the past lower CO₂ concentration, is comparatively small. Winter uptake of anthropogenic CO₂ increases with the rise of the atmospheric CO₂ level, while summer uptake is relatively stable, resulting in a larger seasonal cycle of the uptake. This increase is significant, especially in the Kuroshio Extension region. It is newly suggested that this increase in the Kuroshio Extension region is largely caused by the combined effects of the increased pCO₂ dependency of the sea water on the temperature and the seasonal difference in cooling.