Essential Site Maintenance: Authorea-powered sites will be updated circa 15:00-17:00 Eastern on Tuesday 5 November.
There should be no interruption to normal services, but please contact us at [email protected] in case you face any issues.

loading page

Influence of wave-induced variability on ocean carbon uptake
  • +2
  • Paridhi Rustogi,
  • Laure Resplandy,
  • Enhui Liao,
  • Brandon G Reichl,
  • Luc Deike
Paridhi Rustogi
Princeton University

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

Author Profile
Laure Resplandy
Princeton University
Author Profile
Enhui Liao
Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Author Profile
Brandon G Reichl
NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory
Author Profile
Luc Deike
Princeton University
Author Profile

Abstract

High-frequency wind speed and wave variability influence the air-sea CO2 flux by modulating the gas transfer velocity. Traditional gas transfer velocity formulations scale solely with wind speed and ignore wave activity, including wave breaking and bubble-mediated transfers. In this study, we quantify the effects of wave-induced spatiotemporal variability on the CO2 flux and the ocean carbon storage using a wind-wave-dependent gas transfer velocity formulation in an ocean general circulation model (MOM6-COBALTv2). We find that wave activity introduces a hemispheric asymmetry in ocean carbon storage, with gain in the southern hemisphere where wave activity is robust year-round and loss in the northern hemisphere where continental sheltering reduces carbon uptake. Compared to a traditional wind-dependent formulation, the wind-wave-dependent formulation yields a modest global increase in ocean carbon storage of 4.3 PgC over 1959-2018 (~4%), but on average, enhances the CO2 gas transfer velocity and flux variability by 5-30% on high-frequency and seasonal timescales in the extratropics and up to 200-300% during storms (>15 m s-1 wind speed). This wave-induced spatiotemporal variability in CO2 flux is comparable to the flux expected from marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) techniques, such that neglecting wind-wave variability in modeled CO2 fluxes could hinder distinguishing between natural variability and human-induced changes, undermining mCDR verification and monitoring efforts.