Response of sea surface fugacity of CO2 to the SAM shift south of Tasmania: Regional differences

Using observational data collected south of Tasmania during 14 austral summer cruises during 1993–2011, we examined the response of sea surface fugacity of carbon dioxide (fCO2) to the Southern Annular Mode (SAM) shift, which occurred around 2000. In the southern part of the Southern Ocean (SO) or the Polar Zone (PZ) and the Polar Frontal Zone (PFZ), fCO2 increased faster at the sea surface than in the atmosphere before the SAM shift, but not after the shift. In the northern part of the SO or the Subantarctic Zone (SAZ), however, surface fCO2 increased faster than atmospheric fCO2 both before and after the shift. The SAM shift had an important influence on the surface fCO2 trend in the PZ and PFZ but not in the SAZ, which we attribute to differences in regional oceanographic processes (upwelling versus nonupwelling). The SAM shift may have reversed the negative trend of SO CO2 uptake.