Estimates of Inter-Annual Variability of CO2 Fluxes

CO2 flux maps are determined from wind speed and the difference in CO2 partial pressure between surface seawater (pCO2SW) and the overlying atmosphere. To infer the seasonal variability of global net air-sea CO2 fluxes over the last two decades up to 3-months from present, we derived optimum sub-annual relationships between pCO2SW and sea surface temperature (SST). The derived algorithms are then applied on high-resolution SST data to yield changes in pCO2SW on a monthly basis. The pCO2SW in turn is combined with a gas transfer velocity estimated from high resolution wind products to estimate seasonal fluxes.

Access to the graphical data interface used for this study can be found at the NOAA ERDDAP website:

       http://cwcgom.aoml.noaa.gov/erddap/griddap/aomlcarbonfluxes.graph.

       Instructions on how to use the Graphical Data Interface.

A full description of the method can be found in the NOAA technical memorandum, "Procedures to create near real-time seasonal air-sea CO2 flux maps" by G.-H. Park, R. Wanninkhof, and J. Trinanes.



U.S. Department of Commerce | National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration | NOAA Research