Description
Recent assessments of CO2 uptake in the North Atlantic showed that the natural component of the carbon cycle has been affected by the variability of thermohaline circulation (MOC). The first goal of the BOCATS project is to extend the time series of the MOC and the observation of the ventilation of water bodies for a better quantification of their effect on variations in the carbon cycle in the North Atlantic over time scales of decades. Estimating this variability is essential for assessing future climate change scenarios. The second goal of BOCATS is to quantify the effect of the present increase in atmospheric CO2 on the production and dissolution of CaCO3. The universally accepted hypothesis of the steady-state CaCO3 cycle has been called into question due to the acidification observed in deep waters of the North Atlantic and its potentially negative impact on calcareous organisms. The objectives of the BOCATS project are addressed in two main activities: Maintain the ten-year carbon cycle and circulation observation experiment with the ninth realization of the hydrography/geochemistry section A25 between Portugal and Greenland that began in 1997, (ii) The assessment in the subpolar gyrus of the variability of the carbon cycle, separating its natural and anthropogenic components, and including organic matter, sediments and other biogenic elements. The main observational contribution of BOCATS will be a cruise to be carried out in June and July 2016. The high-quality observations foreseen in the subpolar gyre will contribute to the early detection of carbon cycle disruption and allow accurate estimation of CO2 storage and acidification rates, linking these changes to MOC variability.
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