A carbon cycle model with latitude dependence

A two-dimensional carbon cycle model is divided into three zones representing equatorial, middle and high latitude regions. The three zones are coupled together by a deep ocean meridional convective cell and atmospheric transport terms. The model is applied to the calculation of the dispersion of radiocarbon and tritium from nuclear weapons tests, to the calculation of the atmospheric record of bomb radiocarbon and to the calculation of the Mauna Loa record of atmospheric CO₂. Calibrating on the basis of the Northern hemisphere bomb test data yields a model which has approximately twice the CO₂ ocean uptake of the one-dimension box diffusion models calibrated on the basis of deep water equilibrium carbon 14.Work performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory under contract No. W-7405-ENG-78.