Direct observation of increasing CO2 in the Weddell Gyre along the Prime Meridian during 1973-2008

After all, the time trend in measured CT is most straightforwardly ascribed entirely to uptake of Cant, and assuming an exponentially growing history of storage, the observed increase of CT in the WSBW suggests that a total amount of Cant of 6±3 μmol kg−1 has accumulated in this water mass between the onset of the Industrial Revolution and 1995. Extrapolating the determined time trend, the rate of storage of Cant in the deep Weddell Gyre (>3000 m, west of 20°E) is calculated to be about 12±6 TgC yr−1 over the 1973-2008 period. This rate of storage is likely somewhat lower than the rate of export of Cant from the surface water into the deep Weddell Gyre, this due to continuous loss of Cant with WSDW flowing out of the Weddell Gyre into the deep basins of the other oceans as AABW.