Abstract : We estimated a weakening of the Southern Ocean carbon dioxide (CO$_2$) sink since 1981 relative to the trend expected from the large increase in atmospheric CO$_2$. We agree with Law et al. that network choice increases the uncertainty of trend estimates but argue that their network of five locations is too small to be reliable. A future reversal of Southern Ocean CO$_2$ saturation as suggested by Zickfeld et al. is possible, but only at high atmospheric CO$_2$ concentrations, and the effect would be temporary.
https://hal-cea.archives-ouvertes.fr/cea-00868153
Contributor : Bruno Savelli
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Corinne Le Quéré, Christian Rödenbeck, Erik T. Buitenhuis, Thomas J. Conway, Ray Langenfelds, et al.. Response to Comments on "Saturation of the Southern Ocean CO$_2$ Sink Due to Recent Climate Change". Science, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2008, 319 (5863), pp.570c. ⟨10.1126/science.1147315⟩. ⟨cea-00868153⟩
