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    Original Research Papers

    Southern Ocean ventilation inferred from seasonal cycles of atmospheric N2O and O2/N2 at Cape Grim, Tasmania

    Authors:

    C. D. Nevison ,

    National Center for Atmospheric Research, US
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    R. F. Keeling,

    Scripps Institution of Oceanography, US
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    R. F. Weiss,

    Scripps Institution of Oceanography, US
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    B. N. Popp,

    University of Hawaii, Honolulu, US
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    X. Jin,

    University of California, US
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    P. J . Fraser,

    Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Atmospheric Research Division, AU
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    L. W. Porter,

    Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station, Bureau of Meteorology, AU
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    P. G. Hess

    National Center for Atmospheric Research, US
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    Abstract

    The seasonal cycle of atmospheric N2O is derived from a 10-yr observational record at Cape Grim, Tasmania (41°S, 145°E). After correcting for thermal and stratospheric influences, the observed atmospheric seasonal cycle is consistent with the seasonal outgassing of microbially produced N2O from the Southern Ocean, as predicted by an ocean biogeochemistry model coupled to an atmospheric transport model (ATM). The model—observation comparison suggests a Southern Ocean N2O source of ~0.9 Tg N yr−1 and is the first study to reproduce observed atmospheric seasonal cycles in N2O using specified surface sources in forward ATM runs. However, these results are sensitive to the thermal and stratospheric corrections applied to the atmospheric N2O data. The correlation in subsurface waters between apparent oxygen utilization (AOU) and N2O production (approximated as the concentration in excess of atmospheric equilibrium ΔN2O) is exploited to infer the atmospheric seasonal cycle in O2/N2 due to ventilation of O2-depleted subsurface waters. Subtracting this cycle from the observed, thermally corrected seasonal cycle in atmospheric O2/N2 allows the residual O2/N2 signal from surface net community production to be inferred. Because N2O is only produced in subsurface ocean waters, where it is correlated to O2 consumption, atmospheric N2O observations provide a methodology for distinguishing the surface production and subsurface ventilation signals in atmospheric O2/N2, which have previously been inseparable.

    How to Cite: Nevison, C.D., Keeling, R.F., Weiss, R.F., Popp, B.N., Jin, X., Fraser, P.J., Porter, L.W. and Hess, P.G., 2005. Southern Ocean ventilation inferred from seasonal cycles of atmospheric N2O and O2/N2 at Cape Grim, Tasmania. Tellus B: Chemical and Physical Meteorology, 57(3), pp.218–229. DOI: http://doi.org/10.3402/tellusb.v57i3.16533
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      Published on 01 Jan 2005
    Peer Reviewed
     CC BY 4.0
     Accepted on 25 Nov 2004            Submitted on 10 May 2004

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