Oceanic uptake of CO <sub>2</sub> enhanced by mesoscale eddies
Xueyin Li, Bolan Gan, Zhengguang Zhang, Zhimian Cao, Bo Qiu, Zhaohui Chen, Lixin Wu
Abstract
Oceanic mesoscale eddies play a crucial but underexplored role in regulating carbon fluxes and climate change. While they redistribute heat, salt, nutrients, and other tracers, their effects on CO 2 uptake remain uncertain. Using observation-based machine learning to estimate CO 2 fluxes throughout the lifetimes of thousands of eddies, we show that anticyclonic eddies substantially enhance CO 2 uptake on average, while cyclonic eddies marginally diminish it. This asymmetry yields an overall net increase in CO 2 absorption by 9.98 ± 2.28 and 13.82 ± 9.94% in the Kuroshio Extension and Gulf Stream, respectively, major carbon sequestration regions. The primary driver of this enhanced uptake is the downward pumping of dissolved inorganic carbon within anticyclonic eddies. Asymmetric biological responses between anticyclonic and cyclonic eddies contribute to the overall eddy-induced CO 2 flux imbalance. The finding suggests a potential underestimation of the ocean’s capacity for carbon sequestration because of insufficient incorporation of eddies in current observations, emphasizing the need for expanded monitoring in eddy-rich, undersampled regions.