An operational UK air-sea carbon flux observation capability (CARBON-OPS)

英国可运行的海空碳通量观测能力 (CARBON-OPS)

• 批准号: NE/E002110/1
• 负责人: Nicholas Hardman-Mountford
• 金额: $ 2.17万
• 依托单位: University of East Anglia
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2007 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FE002110%2F1
• 关键词: operational; UK; air; sea; carbon

Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) are at their highest level for the past 650,000 years, and possibly the past 15 million years. The ocean is one of the largest natural reservoirs of carbon and has buffered changes in the amount of CO2 accumulating in the atmosphere by absorbing about one half of the CO2 released from all human activities since 1800. However, the ocean's future CO2 absorption rate is unknown and complex to understand because it relies on several related processes (e.g. warming, saltiness, plant growth, mixing, sinking of particles from the surface to deep waters). We do know that the driver for the ocean's absorption of CO2 is the difference in the concentration of CO2 between the ocean and the atmosphere. This is measured as the difference in 'partial pressure' of CO2, termed pCO2. As CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere continue to rise, pCO2 in the surface ocean is expected to increase to double its pre-industrial value by the middle of this century. Coupled with rising temperatures, this increase may lead to a slowdown in the ocean CO2 absorption of CO2, resulting in more CO2 accumulating in the atmosphere and possibly speeding up global warming. A major consequence of increased CO2 levels in the ocean is that surface seawater will become (slightly) more acidic, which could have profound impacts on marine organisms and ecosystems. As a signatory to the Kyoto protocol, the UK has made a legally-binding commitment to reduce carbon emissions by 2012. Part of this commitment requires the UK to track and, if possible, predict changes in regions which naturally absorb CO2 ('natural sinks'). Monitoring changes in surface ocean pCO2 and the exchange of CO2 between the ocean and the atmosphere can provide early warning of changes in the ocean's ability to absorb CO2 and resulting climate changes. Computer models for forecasting changes in ocean processes and ecosystems provide the potential for real-time monitoring and forecasting of CO2 related changes in the ocean. Measurements of pCO2 in the surface ocean are essential for testing the predictions of these models. This proposal describes a 'supply chain' for automated measurement of pCO2 in the surface of the ocean, its processing and its use in providing information to government bodies. Data will be gathered by new pCO2 measurement systems on UK research ships. These will send the measurements in near-real time, via satellite text messages, to the British Oceanographic Data Centre, where they will be automatically processed, quality controlled and archived. The data will then be delivered to the Met Office for use in testing predictions from its ocean models. These models will assist the UK government by providing information on the amount of CO2 taken up by the oceans and the related impacts on global climate, ocean acidity and the health of marine ecosystems.

二氧化碳（CO2）的大气浓度在过去的650，000年中，可能是过去1500万年的最高水平。海洋是碳最大的自然储藏之一，它通过吸收自1800年以来所有人类活动中释放的大约一半的二氧化碳积累的二氧化碳量的变化。但是，海洋的未来CO2吸收率是未知和复杂的，无法理解，因为它与几种相关的过程相关（例如，盐分，植物，植物，混合，零散的含量均与盐分相关，零散地脱离了植物，无处不在。我们确实知道，海洋吸收二氧化碳的驱动因素是海洋和大气之间二氧化碳浓度的差异。这被衡量为CO2的“部分压”的差异，称为PCO2。随着大气中的二氧化碳浓度的持续上升，在本世纪中叶，地表海洋中的PCO2预计将增加其前工业化的一倍。再加上升高的温度，这种增加可能导致二氧化碳吸收的海洋二氧化碳吸收速度放缓，从而导致更多的二氧化碳在大气中积聚，并可能加快全球变暖。海洋中二氧化碳水平升高的主要结果是，地表海水将变得（稍微）更酸性，这可能会对海洋生物和生态系统产生深远的影响。作为京都议定书的签署国，英国已作出了合法约束力的承诺，以减少碳排放。到2012年，这一承诺的一部分要求英国跟踪，并在可能的情况下预测自然吸收CO2（“自然水槽”）的地区的变化。监测表面海洋PCO2的变化以及海洋和大气之间的二氧化碳交换可以提供海洋吸收二氧化碳能力变化并导致气候变化的预警。用于预测海洋过程和生态系统变化的计算机模型为实时监测和预测海洋相关变化提供了潜力。表面海洋中PCO2的测量对于测试这些模型的预测至关重要。该提案描述了一种“供应链”，用于自动测量海洋表面中的PCO2，其处理及其在向政府机构提供信息方面的使用。数据将由英国研究船上的新PCO2测量系统收集。这些将通过卫星文本消息将测量结果发送到英国海洋数据中心，在那里它们将自动处理，质量控制和存档。然后，数据将传递到大都会办公室，以用于测试其海洋模型的预测。这些模型将通过提供有关海洋占用的二氧化碳量以及对全球气候，海洋酸度和海洋生态系统健康的相关影响的信息，来帮助英国政府。