Assembly, quality control and analysis of components of the carbon dioxide system
NOAA/DOE OACES, 36 months
PROJECT SUMMARY
A wealth of recent CO2 data has only now made it possible
to develop a canonical CO2 database. A comprehensive database
would be useful for a variety of purposes, e.g., to calculate annual oceanic
carbon uptake from DCO2 maps, to determine long-term changes
in the dissolved carbon concentrations, to predict future atmospheric CO2
concentrations through modelling studies, and to develop a better understanding
of the carbon cycle on a basin-wide scale. This project has two major
objectives: (1) assembly of a digital database containing the carbon dioxide
parameters TCO2 (sum of carbon dioxide species in seawater),
partial pressure of CO2 in the ocean (DCO2), total
alkalinity (TA), and pH. Co-collected temperature, salinity, oxygen
and nutrient data will be incorporated into the database as part of the
project; and (2) development and incorporation of quality control procedures
to insure the integrity of the data. Variations of CO2
content in surface waters are influenced by seasonal temperature cycles
(changes in the solubility of carbon dioxide), mixing dynamics of ocean
(deep water formation in high latitudes traps atmospheric CO2
which is returned to the surface in upwelled waters) and the biological
cycles of the sea (CO2 is drawn down in the spring and summer
by phytoplankton, and regenerated in the winter). Comparison of the
results from the objectively analyzed fields showing the spatial distribution
of CO2 (objective 3) with already published nutrient (Conkright
et al., 1994a), oxygen (Levitus and Boyer, 1994a), primary production (work
in progress), salinity (Levitus et al., 1994b) and temperature (Levitus
and Boyer, 1994c) data, will increase understanding of the processes involved
in the marine biogeochemical cycle and the cycling of carbon in the oceans.
Margarita Conkright Gregg
NOAA/NODC, E/OC5
1315 East-West Highway
Silver Springs, MD 20910-3282
tel: (301) 713-3290 x193
fax: (301) 713-3303
mconkright@nodc.noaa.gov