CFC Measurements along 26N and CFC and Carbon Measurements at the Western Boundary

University Of Miami, Coral Gables FL

Investigators

Abstract

ABSTRACT OCE-0351421 This is a proposal to measure chlorofluorocarbons (CFC-11, CFC-12, CFC-113) on the U.K. run 26 degrees N transect in winter 2004. The objective is to provide a high quality data set, and make them available nearly immediately to the community as required by the Global Repeat program. The program is in support of CLIVAR (CLImate VARiability and predictability) and the International Carbon Cycle Programs, and is a component of a global observing system for the physical climate/CO2 system. The data will contribute to documenting and understanding how ventilation and ocean carbon change over time. The intellectual merit of the proposed measurements is that they will contribute to the goals of the Global Repeat program: data for model calibration and validation, carbon system studies, calibration of autonomous sensors, and deep and shallow water mass and ventilation studies. In addition, the addition of CFC measurements to the 2004 occupation of the 26N transect will fill a zonal gap in a region where CFC inventories are relatively large, and in the west increasing rapidly throughout the water column. The broader societal impacts of the proposed measurements include: broad and near immediate dissemination of data to enhance scientific and technological understanding; societal benefits of collection of a high quality data set, use of the data to assess climate change, and a resource for model calibration of the climate system. Carbon dioxide is one of the most important gases in the atmosphere affecting the radiative balance of the earth. A number of alternative, although still indirect, means of estimating anthropogenic CO2 use CFC data. The funded measurements will contribute to quantifying the inventory and flux of anthropogenic CO2 in the oceans, and to understanding its variability.