Impact of Remineralization Profile Shape on the Air‐Sea Carbon Balance
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2020GL091746.pdf
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476.69 KB
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Author(s)
Lauderdale, Jonathan
Cael, B. B.
Date Issued
April 2021
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
Publisher
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Citation
Lauderdale, Jonathan Maitland and B. B. Cael. "Impact of Remineralization Profile Shape on the Air‐Sea Carbon Balance." Geophysical Research Letters 48, 7 (April 2021): e2020GL091746 © 2021 The Authors
Version
Final published version
Abstract
The ocean's “biological pump” significantly modulates atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. However, the complexity and variability of processes involved introduces uncertainty in interpretation of transient observations and future climate projections. Much research has focused on “parametric uncertainty,” particularly determining the exponent(s) of a power‐law relationship of sinking particle flux with depth. Varying this relationship's functional form introduces additional “structural uncertainty.” We use an ocean biogeochemistry model substituting six alternative remineralization profiles fit to a reference power‐law curve, to systematically characterize structural uncertainty, which, in atmospheric pCO₂ terms, is roughly 50% of parametric uncertainty associated with varying the power‐law exponent within its plausible global range, and similar to uncertainty associated with regional variation in power‐law exponents. The substantial contribution of structural uncertainty to total uncertainty highlights the need to improve characterization of biological pump processes, and compare the performance of different profiles within Earth System Models to obtain better constrained climate projections.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1029/2020gl091746
