Articles | Volume 15, issue 18
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-5653-2018
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-5653-2018
Research article
 | 
21 Sep 2018
Research article |  | 21 Sep 2018

Increase of dissolved inorganic carbon and decrease in pH in near-surface waters in the Mediterranean Sea during the past two decades

Liliane Merlivat, Jacqueline Boutin, David Antoine, Laurence Beaumont, Melek Golbol, and Vincenzo Vellucci

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Cited articles

Álvarez, M., Sanleón-Bartolomé, H., Tanhua, T., Mintrop, L., Luchetta, A., Cantoni, C., Schroeder, K., and Civitarese, G.: The CO2 system in the Mediterranean Sea: a basin wide perspective, Ocean Sci., 10, 69–92, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-10-69-2014, 2014. 
Antoine, D., d'Ortenzio, F., Hooker, S. B., Bécu, G., Gentili, B., Tailliez, D., and Scott, A. J.: Assessment of uncertainty in the ocean reflectance determined by three satellite ocean color sensors (MERIS, SeaWiFS and MODIS-A) at an offshore site in the Mediterranean Sea (BOUSSOLE project), J. Geophys. Res., 113, https://doi.org/10.1029/2007JC004472, 2008. 
Short summary
The fugacity of carbon dioxide in seawater (fCO2) was measured hourly in the surface waters of the NW Mediterranean Sea during two 3-year sequences separated by 18 years. A decrease of pH of 0.0022 yr−1 was computed. About 85 % of the accumulation of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) comes from chemical equilibration with increasing atmospheric CO2; the remaining 15 % accumulation is consistent with estimates of transfer of Atlantic waters through the Gibraltar Strait.
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