Nissen, C., Timmermann, R., Hoppema, M., Gürses, Ö., & Hauck, J. (2022). Abruptly attenuated carbon sequestration with Weddell Sea dense waters by 2100. Nature Communications, 13(1), 3402. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-30671-3
Summary
Antarctic Bottom Water formation, such as in the Weddell Sea in the Southern Ocean, is an efficient vector for carbon sequestration on time scales of centuries. Possible changes in carbon sequestration under changing environmental conditions are unquantified to date, mainly due to difficulties in simulating the relevant processes on high-latitude continental shelves. The authors of this study use a model setup including both ice-shelf cavities and oceanic carbon cycling and demonstrate that by 2100, deep-ocean carbon accumulation in the southern Weddell Sea is abruptly attenuated to only 40% of the 1990s rate in a high-emission scenario, while the rate in the 2050s and 2080s is still 2.5-fold and 4-fold higher, respectively, than in the 1990s. Assessing deep-ocean carbon budgets and water mass transformations, this decline was attributed to an increased presence of modified Warm Deep Water on the southern Weddell Sea continental shelf, a 16% reduction in sea-ice formation, and a 79% increase in ice-shelf basal melt. Altogether, these changes lower the density and volume of newly formed bottom waters and reduce the associated carbon transport to the abyss.
Policy relevant message:
Under the high emissions scenario, carbon sequestration by Weddell Sea dense water formation will reduce by 40% by 2100.