Seasonal and interannual variability of the air-sea CO2 flux in the Atlantic sector of the Barents Sea

The results show that the Atlantic sector of the Barents Sea is an annual sink of atmospheric CO2. The monthly mean uptake increases nearly monotonically from 0.101 mol C m− 2 in midwinter to 0.656 mol C m− 2 in midfall before it gradually decreases to the winter value. Interannual variability in the monthly mean flux was evaluated for the winter, summer, and fall seasons and was found to be ± 0.071 mol C m− 2 month− 1. The variability is controlled mainly through combined variation of fCO2sw and wind speed. The annual mean uptake of atmospheric CO2 in the region was estimated to 4.27 ± 0.68 mol C m− 2.