Uptake rate of anthropogenic CO2 in the Ulleung Basin, East/Japan Sea

Abstract

The East/Japan Sea is a marginal sea that plays an important role in atmospheric CO2 uptake by deep water formation. Global warming has weakened deep water formation so that the absorption of anthropogenic CO2 into the interior of the East/Japan Sea has changed. Studies in relation to the changes in anthropogenic CO2 uptake in the East/Japan Sea were only conducted on the Japan Basin where deep water formation occurs. However, the importance of the other basins in the East/Japan sea on CO2 uptake has grown along with a recent transition from deep water formation to intermediate water formation. We first report an uptake rate of anthropogenic CO2 in the Ulleung Basin using two time-series carbon data sets collected in year 1999 and 2012. Extended multi-linear regression method was used to estimate the uptake rate. Over the past 13 years, anthropogenic CO2 had penetrated to depths shallower than 1,700m and the uptake rate was 0.53 ± 0.38 mol C m-2 yr-1 which is comparable to that of the Atlantic Ocean (0.63 ± 0.16 mol C m-2 yr-1) for the period of 1983-2003.Japan Sea has changed. Studies in relation to the changes in anthropogenic CO2 uptake in the East/Japan Sea were only conducted on the Japan Basin where deep water formation occurs. However, the importance of the other basins in the East/Japan sea on CO2 uptake has grown along with a recent transition from deep water formation to intermediate water formation. We first report an uptake rate of anthropogenic CO2 in the Ulleung Basin using two time-series carbon data sets collected in year 1999 and 2012. Extended multi-linear regression method was used to estimate the uptake rate. Over the past 13 years, anthropogenic CO2 had penetrated to depths shallower than 1,700m and the uptake rate was 0.53 ± 0.38 mol C m-2 yr-1 which is comparable to that of the Atlantic Ocean (0.63 ± 0.16 mol C m-2 yr-1) for the period of 1983-2003.