Burt, D. J., Fröb, F., & Ilyina, T. (2021). The Sensitivity of the Marine Carbonate System to Regional Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement. Frontiers in Climate, 3, 68. https://doi.org/10.3389/fclim.2021.624075
Summary
Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement (OAE) simultaneously counteracts atmospheric concentrations of CO2 and ocean acidification; however, no previous studies have investigated the response of the marine carbonate system response to alkalinity enhancement on regional scales. This is a first modelling study focusing on regional implementations of OAE that can sequester more atmospheric CO2 than a global implementation. The authors revealed that regional alkalinity enhancement has the capacity to exceed carbon uptake by global OAE. Additionally, while the marine carbonate system becomes less sensitive to alkalinity enhancement in all modelled experiments globally, regional responses to enhanced alkalinity vary depending upon the background concentrations of dissolved inorganic carbon and total alkalinity. Furthermore, the Subpolar North Atlantic displays a previously unexpected alkalinity sensitivity increase in response to high total alkalinity concentrations.