The biological carbon pump in CMIP6 models: 21st century trends and uncertainties

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  • Jamie D. Wilson
    University of Bristol
  • Oliver Andrews
    University of Bristol
  • Anna Katavouta
    National Oceanography Centre, Liverpool
  • Francisco del Melo Virissimo
    National Oceanography Centre, Southampton
  • Ros M. Death
    University of Bristol
  • Markus Adloff
    The University of Birmingham
  • Chelsey A. Baker
    National Oceanography Centre, Southampton
  • Benedict Blackledge
    University of Bristol
  • Fraser W. Goldsworth
    University of Oxford
  • Alan T. Kennedy-Asser
    University of Bristol
  • Qian Liu
    University of Bristol
  • Katie Sieradzan
  • Emily Vosper
    University of Bristol
  • Rui Ying
    University of Bristol
The biological carbon pump (BCP) stores ∼1,700 Pg C from the atmosphere in the ocean interior, but the magnitude and direction of future changes in carbon sequestration by the BCP are uncertain. We quantify global trends in export production, sinking organic carbon fluxes, and sequestered carbon in the latest Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) future projections, finding a consistent 19 to 48 Pg C increase in carbon sequestration over the 21st century for the SSP3-7.0 scenario, equivalent to 5 to 17% of the total increase of carbon in the ocean by 2100. This is in contrast to a global decrease in export production of –0.15 to –1.44 Pg C y–1. However, there is significant uncertainty in the modeled future fluxes of organic carbon to the deep ocean associated with a range of different processes resolved across models. We demonstrate that organic carbon fluxes at 1,000 m are a good predictor of long-term carbon sequestration and suggest this is an important metric of the BCP that should be prioritized in future model studies.
Original languageEnglish
Article numbere22043691
JournalPNAS
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 11 Jul 2022

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