Variations of oceanic pCO2 and air-sea CO2 flux in the eastern Indian sector of the Southern Ocean for the austral summer of 2001-2002

We examined pCO(2)(air) and pCO(2)(sea) observed in the eastern Indian sector of the Southern Ocean (south of 50 degrees S, 140 degrees-150 degrees E) during austral spring-summer from November 2001 to March 2002 using 4 research vessels. pCO(2)(sea) changed by as much as 200 mu atm over the 5-month period in the Seasonal Sea Ice Zone (SSIZ), due mostly to very low values in January caused by stratification of water column and strong biological activity. In the SSIZ, the air-sea CO2 flux showed large temporal variations, from -2.9 g m(-2) month(-1) in January 2002 to -0.65 g m(-2) month(-1) in February 2002. The monthly oceanic CO2 uptake in the area covered by this study (1.5 x 10(12) km(2)) was estimated to be in a range of 1.0 x 10(-3) to 1.7 x 10(-3) PgC month(-1), with a mean value of 1.3 x 10(-3) PgC month(-1). Citation: Nakaoka, S., T. Nakazawa, H. Yoshikawa-Inoue, S. Aoki, G. Hashida, M. Ishii, T. Yamanouchi, T. Odate, and M. Fukuchi (2009), Variations of oceanic pCO(2) and air-sea CO2 flux in the eastern Indian sector of the Southern Ocean for the austral summer of 2001-2002, Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L14610, doi: 10.1029/2009GL038467.