Publication Abstracts

Hall et al. 2002

Hall, T.M., T.W.N. Haine, and D.W. Waugh, 2002: Inferring the concentration of anthropogenic carbon in the ocean from tracers. Glob. Biogeochem. Cycles, 16, no. 4, 1131, doi:10.1029/2001GB001835.

We present a technique to infer concentrations of anthropogenic carbon in the ocean from observable tracers and illustrate the technique using synthetic data from a simple model. In contrast to several recent studies, the technique makes no assumptions about transport being dominated by bulk advection and does not require separation of the small anthropogenic signal from the large and variable natural carbon cycle. Mixing is included naturally and implicitly by using observable tracers in combination to estimate the distributions of transit times from the surface to interior points. The time-varying signal of anthropogenic carbon in surface waters is propagated directly into the interior by the transit time distributions (TTDs) without having to consider background natural carbon. The TTD technique provides estimates of anthropogenic carbon, as simulated directly in the model, that are more accurate than techniques relying on single tracer "ages" (e.g., CFC age) to represent transport. In general, the TTD technique works best when at least two tracers are used in combination, and the tracers have significantly different timescales in either their surface temporal variation or radioactive decay. Possibilities are a CFC or CCl4 in combination with natural Δ14C or 39Ar. However, even for a CFC alone the TTD technique results in less bias for anthropogenic carbon estimates than use of a CFC age.

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BibTeX Citation

@article{ha03400p,
  author={Hall, T. M. and Haine, T. W. N. and Waugh, D. W.},
  title={Inferring the concentration of anthropogenic carbon in the ocean from tracers},
  year={2002},
  journal={Global Biogeochemical Cycles},
  volume={16},
  number={4},
  pages={1131},
  doi={10.1029/2001GB001835},
}

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RIS Citation

TY  - JOUR
ID  - ha03400p
AU  - Hall, T. M.
AU  - Haine, T. W. N.
AU  - Waugh, D. W.
PY  - 2002
TI  - Inferring the concentration of anthropogenic carbon in the ocean from tracers
JA  - Glob. Biogeochem. Cycles
JO  - Global Biogeochemical Cycles
VL  - 16
IS  - 4
SP  - 1131
DO  - 10.1029/2001GB001835
ER  -

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