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Science 15 June 1979:
Vol. 204. no. 4398, pp. 1203 - 1205
DOI: 10.1126/science.204.4398.1203
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Articles

Carbon Dioxide in the Ocean Surface: The Homogeneous Buffer Factor

E. T. SUNDQUIST 1, L. N. PLUMMER 1, and T. M. L. WIGLEY 2

1 U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia 22092
2 Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ England

The amount of carbon dioxide that can be dissolved in surface seawater depends at least partially on the homogeneous buffer factor, which is a mathematical function of the chemical equilibrium conditions among the various dissolved inorganic species. Because these equilibria are well known, the homogeneous buffer factor is well known. Natural spatial variations depend very systematically on sea surface temperatures, and do not contribute significantly to uncertainties in the present or future carbon dioxide budget.

Submitted on December 15, 1978
Revised on March 5, 1979


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Anthropogenic CO2 Uptake by the Ocean Based on the Global Chlorofluorocarbon Data Set.
B. I. McNeil, R. J. Matear, R. M. Key, J. L. Bullister, and J. L. Sarmiento (2003)
Science 299, 235-239
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)