Ocean-Atmosphere CO2 Fluxes in the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre: Association with Biochemical and Physical Factors during Spring

We acknowledge support by the CSIC Open Access Publication Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI).Sea surface partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) was measured continuously in a transect of the North Atlantic subtropical gyre between Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (18.1° N, 68.5° W) and Vigo, Spain (41.9° N, 11.8° W) during spring 2011. Additional biogeochemical and physical variables measured to identify factors controlling the surface pCO2 were analyzed in discrete samples collected at 16 sites along the transect at the surface and to a depth of 200 m. Sea surface pCO2 varied between 309 and 662 μatm, and showed differences between the western and eastern subtropical gyre. The subtropical gyre acted as a net CO2 sink, with a mean flux of −5.5 ± 2.2 mmol m−2 day−1. The eastern part of the transect, close to the North Atlantic Iberian upwelling off the Galician coast, was a CO2 source with an average flux of 33.5 ± 9.0 mmol m−2 day−1. Our results highlight the importance of making more surface pCO2 observations in the area located east of the Azores Islands since air-sea CO2 fluxes there are poorly studied.The authors would like to thank those responsible for the two projects Proyecto Buque Escuela de Oceanografía 2011 (Research Project CTM 2009-08399-E/MAR) and the Malaspina Circumnavigation Expedition 2010 (Research Project Consolider-Ingenio, CSD 2008-00077), both funded by the Spanish Government. Their collaboration made this study possible. The authors would also like to thank J. Gómez-Enri and G. Navarro for their help with the satellite images.Peer reviewe