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Science 3 April 1992:
Vol. 256. no. 5053, pp. 74 - 79
DOI: 10.1126/science.256.5053.74
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Articles

Oceanic Uptake of Fossil Fuel CO2: Carbon-13 Evidence

P. D. Quay 1, B. Tilbrook 2, and C. S. Wong 3

1 School of Oceanography, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195
2 Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Division of Oceanography, Hobart, Tasmania, 7001 Australia
3 Centre for Ocean Climate Chemistry, Institute of Ocean Sciences, Sidney, British Columbia, Canada V8L 4B2

The dgr13C value of the dissolved inorganic carbon in the surface waters of the Pacific Ocean has decreased by about 0.4 per mil between 1970 and 1990. This decrease has resulted from the uptake of atmospheric CO2 derived from fossil fuel combustion and deforestation. The net amounts of CO2 taken up by the oceans and released from the biosphere between 1970 and 1990 have been determined from the changes in three measured values: the concentration of atmospheric CO2, the dgr13C of atmospheric CO2 and the dgr13C value of dissolved inorganic carbon in the ocean. The calculated average net oceanic CO2 uptake is 2.1 gigatons of carbon per year. This amount implies that the ocean is the dominant net sink for anthropogenically produced CO2 and that there has been no significant net CO2 released from the biosphere during the last 20 years.

Submitted on September 3, 1991
Accepted on January 27, 1992


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