The GOSAC project to predict the efficiency of ocean
CO2 sequestration using 3-D ocean models
Orr, J. C., O. Aumont, A. Yool, G.-K. Plattner, F. Joos,
E. Maier-Reimer, M.-F. Weirig, R. Schlitzer, K. Caldeira,
M. E. Wickett, R. J. Matear, B. Mignone, J. L. Sarmiento, and
J. Davison. In Greenhouse Gas Control Technologies, Proceedings of
the Sixth International Conference on Greenhouse Gas Control
Technologies, edited by J. Gale and Y. Kaya, Pergamon,
2003.
James C. Orr and Olivier Aumont, Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et
de l'Environnement, CEA-CNRS and IPSL, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
Andrew Yool, Southampton Oceanography Centre (SOC), Southampton, England, UK
Gian-Kasper Plattner and Fortunat Joos, Climate and Environmental
Physics, Physics Institute, University of Bern (PIUB), Bern,
Switzerland
Ernst Maier-Reimer, Max Planck Institut für Meteorologie (MPIM),
Hamburg, Germany
Marie-France Weirig and Reiner Schlitzer, Alfred Wegener Institute for
Polar and Marine Research (AWI), Bremerhaven, Germany
Ken Caldeira and Michael Wickett Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, California, USA
Richard Matear, Commonwealth Science and Industrial Research
Organization (CSIRO), Hobart, Australia
Brian Mignone, Jorge L. Sarmiento, AOS Program, Princeton University,
Princeton NJ, USA
John Davison, IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme, Stoke Orchard,
Cheltenham, GL52 7RZ, UK
To evaluate the efficiency of the ocean in retaining purposefully
sequestered CO2, eight ocean modeling
groups made a set of standard injection simulations. Injection was
made simultaneously at seven separate sites; separate 7-site
simulations were made for injection at 800 m, 1500 m, and 3000 m. For
injection at 3000 m, all models showed 85% or greater global
efficiency in year 2200, i.e., 100 years after the end of the
specified 100-year injection period; at the same time, the 1500-m
injection is 60-80% efficient and 800-m injection is only 42-61%
efficient. Most of the CO2 injected at
3000 m was lost from the Southern Ocean (the principal region by which
the deep ocean is ventilated); at shallower depths, relatively more
was lost sooner, from the northern hemisphere and the tropics. The
simulated global injection efficiency at 3000 m is correlated with
both the simulated global mean CFC-11 inventory and deep-ocean natural
14C. Based on these correlations, the global observational constraints
for these two tracers, and model diversity, it appears likely that the
range of model-predicted efficiencies would bracket real ocean
behavior under the same 3000-m injection scenario.
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