Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.
Christopher L. Sabine,1*Richard A. Feely,1Nicolas Gruber,2Robert M. Key,3Kitack Lee,4John L. Bullister,1Rik Wanninkhof,5C. S. Wong,6Douglas W. R. Wallace,7Bronte Tilbrook,8Frank J. Millero,9Tsung-Hung Peng,5Alexander Kozyr,10Tsueno Ono,11Aida F. Rios12
Using inorganic carbon measurements from an international surveyeffort in the 1990s and a tracer-based separation technique,we estimate a global oceanic anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2)sink for the period from 1800 to 1994 of 118 ± 19 petagramsof carbon. The oceanic sink accounts for 48% of the total fossil-fueland cement-manufacturing emissions, implying that the terrestrialbiosphere was a net source of CO2 to the atmosphere of about39 ± 28 petagrams of carbon for this period. The currentfraction of total anthropogenic CO2 emissions stored in theocean appears to be about one-third of the long-term potential.
1 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, 7600 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA 98115, USA. 2 University of California–Los Angeles, Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics and Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. 3 Princeton University, Program in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, Forrestal Campus/Sayre Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA. 4 Pohang University of Science and Technology, San 31, Nam-gu, Hyoja-dong, Pohang 790-784, South Korea. 5 NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, 4301 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, FL 33149, USA. 6 Institute of Ocean Sciences, Climate Chemistry Laboratory, Post Office Box 6000, Sidney, BC V8L 4B2, Canada. 7 Forschungsbereich Marine Biogeochemie, Leibniz Institut für Meereswissenschafte, an der Universität Kiel, (IFM-GEOMAR), Düsternbrooker Weg 20, D-24105 Kiel, Germany. 8 Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Marine Research and Antarctic Climate and Ecosystem Cooperative Research Center, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia. 9 University of Miami, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, Division of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, FL 33149, USA. 10 Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, Mail Stop 6335, Oak Ridge, TN 37831–6335, USA. 11 Frontier Research System for Global Change/Institute for Global Change Research, Sumitomo Hamamatsu-cho, Building 4F, 1-18-16 Hamamatsutyo, Minato-ku, 105-0013, Japan. 12 Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas, Consejo Superior de Investigationes Cientificas, c/Eduardo Cabello, 6, 36208 Vigo, Spain.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: chris.sabine{at}noaa.gov
The editors suggest the following Related Resources on Science sites:
In Science Magazine
TECHNICAL COMMENTS
Ralph F. Keeling (17 June 2005) Science308 (5729), 1743c.
[DOI: 10.1126/science.1109620] |Full Text »|PDF »
TECHNICAL COMMENTS
Christopher Sabine and Nicolas Gruber (17 June 2005) Science308 (5729), 1743d.
[DOI: 10.1126/science.1109949] |Full Text »|PDF »
PERSPECTIVES
Taro Takahashi (16 July 2004) Science305 (5682), 352.
[DOI: 10.1126/science.1100602] |Summary »|Full Text »|PDF »
RESEARCH ARTICLES
Richard A. Feely, Christopher L. Sabine, Kitack Lee, Will Berelson, Joanie Kleypas, Victoria J. Fabry, and Frank J. Millero (16 July 2004) Science305 (5682), 362.
[DOI: 10.1126/science.1097329] |Abstract »|Full Text »|PDF »|Supporting Online Material »
THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
An operational monitoring system to provide indicators of CO2-related variables in the ocean.
N. J. Hardman-Mountford, G. Moore, D. C. E. Bakker, A. J. Watson, U. Schuster, R. Barciela, A. Hines, G. Moncoiffe, J. Brown, S. Dye, et al. (2008)
ICES J. Mar. Sci.
|Abstract »|Full Text »|PDF »
Evidence for Upwelling of Corrosive "Acidified" Water onto the Continental Shelf.
R. A. Feely, C. L. Sabine, J. M. Hernandez-Ayon, D. Ianson, and B. Hales (2008)
Science
320, 1490-1492
|Abstract »|Full Text »|PDF »
Ocean Acidification and Its Potential Effects on Marine Ecosystems.
Impacts of ocean acidification on marine fauna and ecosystem processes.
V. J. Fabry, B. A. Seibel, R. A. Feely, and J. C. Orr (2008)
ICES J. Mar. Sci.
65, 414-432
|Abstract »|Full Text »|PDF »
Comment on "Saturation of the Southern Ocean CO2 Sink Due to Recent Climate Change".
K. Zickfeld, J. C. Fyfe, M. Eby, and A. J. Weaver (2008)
Science
319, 570b
|Abstract »|Full Text »|PDF »
Response to Comments on "Saturation of the Southern Ocean CO2 Sink Due to Recent Climate Change".
C. Le Quere, C. Rodenbeck, E. T. Buitenhuis, T. J. Conway, R. Langenfelds, A. Gomez, C. Labuschagne, M. Ramonet, T. Nakazawa, N. Metzl, et al. (2008)
Science
319, 570c
|Abstract »|Full Text »|PDF »
Calcium carbonate cycling in future oceans and its influence on future climates.
Permanent carbon dioxide storage in deep-sea sediments.
K. Z. House, D. P. Schrag, C. F. Harvey, and K. S. Lackner (2006)
PNAS
103, 12291-12295
|Abstract »|Full Text »|PDF »
Preindustrial to Modern Interdecadal Variability in Coral Reef pH.
C. Pelejero, E. Calvo, M. T. McCulloch, J. F. Marshall, M. K. Gagan, J. M. Lough, and B. N. Opdyke (2005)
Science
309, 2204-2207
|Abstract »|Full Text »|PDF »
Comment on "The Ocean Sink for Anthropogenic CO2".
48% of the total fossil-fuel and cement-manufacturing emissions, implying that the terrestrial biosphere was a net source of CO2 to the atmosphere of about 39 ± 28 petagrams of carbon for this period. The current fraction of total anthropogenic CO2 emissions stored in the ocean appears to be about one-third of the long-term potential. 
