Glider-based observations of CO 2 in the Labrador Sea

[摘要] Ocean gliders can provide high-spatial- and temporal-resolution data and target specific ocean regions at a low cost compared to ship-based measurements. An important gap, however, given the need for carbon measurements, is the lack of capable sensors for glider-based CO 2 measurements. We need to develop robust methods to evaluate novel CO 2 sensors for gliders. Here we present results from testing the performance of a novel CO 2 optode sensor ( Atamanchuk et al. ,  2014 ) , deployed on a Slocum glider, in the Labrador Sea and on the Newfoundland Shelf. This paper (1) investigates the performance of the CO 2 optode on two glider deployments, (2) demonstrates the utility of using the autonomous SeaCycler profiler mooring ( Send et al. ,  2013 ; Atamanchuk et al. ,  2020 ) to improve in situ sensor data, and (3) presents data from moored and mobile platforms to resolve fine scales of temporal and spatial variability of O 2 and p CO 2 in the Labrador Sea. The Aanderaa CO 2 optode is an early prototype sensor that has not undergone rigorous testing on a glider but is compact and uses little power. Our analysis shows that the sensor suffers from instability and slow response times ( τ 95 >100  s), affected by different behavior when profiling through small ( 10   ∘ C) changes in temperature over similar time intervals. We compare the glider and SeaCycler O 2 and CO 2 observations and estimate the glider data uncertainty as ±  6.14 and ±  44.01  µ atm, respectively. From the Labrador Sea mission, we point to short timescales ( <7  d) and distance ( <15  km) scales as important drivers of change in this region.

[学科分类] 海洋学与技术