Storage of Anthropogenic Carbon in the Atlantic over the last 30 Years

The oceans play a significant role in the storage of anthropogenic carbon (Cant). At present, about 25% of the anthropogenic CO2 emissions are stored in the global ocean, thus mitigating the greenhouse effect and global warming. The North Atlantic shows the highest column inventories of Cant due to the formation of deep water there, whereas further south the majority of Cant is found in mode and intermediate waters. Here we use 30 years of CFC observations including those from WOCE and CLIVAR to calculate the concentrations of Cant and its variability on decadal time scales. The changes of the Cant inventory of the different water masses are compared with the directly observed changes in total carbon and the biogenic contribution inferred from oxygen data.