Variations of oceanicpCO2and air-sea CO2flux in the eastern Indian sector of the Southern Ocean for the austral summer of 2001–2002

[1] We examined pCO2air and pCO2sea observed in the eastern Indian sector of the Southern Ocean (south of 50°S, 140°–150°E) during austral spring-summer from November 2001 to March 2002 using 4 research vessels. pCO2sea changed by as much as 200 μatm over the 5-month period in the Seasonal Sea Ice Zone (SSIZ), due mostly to very low values in January caused by stratification of water column and strong biological activity. In the SSIZ, the air-sea CO2 flux showed large temporal variations, from −2.9 g m−2 month−1 in January 2002 to −0.65 g m−2 month−1 in February 2002. The monthly oceanic CO2 uptake in the area covered by this study (1.5 × 1012 km2) was estimated to be in a range of 1.0 × 10−3 to 1.7 × 10−3 PgC month−1, with a mean value of 1.3 × 10−3 PgC month−1