Articles | Volume 12, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-12-797-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-12-797-2021
Research article
 | 
14 Jul 2021
Research article |  | 14 Jul 2021

Resolving ecological feedbacks on the ocean carbon sink in Earth system models

David I. Armstrong McKay, Sarah E. Cornell, Katherine Richardson, and Johan Rockström

Related authors

Tipping point detection and early warnings in climate, ecological, and human systems
Vasilis Dakos, Chris A. Boulton, Joshua E. Buxton, Jesse F. Abrams, Beatriz Arellano-Nava, David I. Armstrong McKay, Sebastian Bathiany, Lana Blaschke, Niklas Boers, Daniel Dylewsky, Carlos López-Martínez, Isobel Parry, Paul Ritchie, Bregje van der Bolt, Larissa van der Laan, Els Weinans, and Sonia Kéfi
Earth Syst. Dynam., 15, 1117–1135, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-15-1117-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-15-1117-2024, 2024
Short summary
Lake ecosystem tipping points and climate feedbacks
Dag O. Hessen, Tom Andersen, David Armstrong McKay, Sarian Kosten, Mariana Meerhoff, Amy Pickard, and Bryan M. Spears
Earth Syst. Dynam., 15, 653–669, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-15-653-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-15-653-2024, 2024
Short summary
Tipping points in ocean and atmosphere circulations
Sina Loriani, Yevgeny Aksenov, David Armstrong McKay, Govindasamy Bala, Andreas Born, Cristiano M. Chiessi, Henk Dijkstra, Jonathan F. Donges, Sybren Drijfhout, Matthew H. England, Alexey V. Fedorov, Laura Jackson, Kai Kornhuber, Gabriele Messori, Francesco Pausata, Stefanie Rynders, Jean-Baptiste Salée, Bablu Sinha, Steven Sherwood, Didier Swingedouw, and Thejna Tharammal
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2589,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2589, 2023
Short summary
Reduced carbon cycle resilience across the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum
David I. Armstrong McKay and Timothy M. Lenton
Clim. Past, 14, 1515–1527, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-1515-2018,https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-1515-2018, 2018
Short summary

Related subject area

Earth system interactions with the biosphere: biogeochemical cycles
How does the phytoplankton–light feedback affect the marine N2O inventory?
Sarah Berthet, Julien Jouanno, Roland Séférian, Marion Gehlen, and William Llovel
Earth Syst. Dynam., 14, 399–412, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-14-399-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-14-399-2023, 2023
Short summary
Time-varying changes and uncertainties in the CMIP6 ocean carbon sink from global to local scale
Parsa Gooya, Neil C. Swart, and Roberta C. Hamme
Earth Syst. Dynam., 14, 383–398, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-14-383-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-14-383-2023, 2023
Short summary
Interannual global carbon cycle variations linked to atmospheric circulation variability
Na Li, Sebastian Sippel, Alexander J. Winkler, Miguel D. Mahecha, Markus Reichstein, and Ana Bastos
Earth Syst. Dynam., 13, 1505–1533, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-1505-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-1505-2022, 2022
Short summary
Contrasting projections of the ENSO-driven CO2 flux variability in the equatorial Pacific under high-warming scenario
Pradeebane Vaittinada Ayar, Laurent Bopp, Jim R. Christian, Tatiana Ilyina, John P. Krasting, Roland Séférian, Hiroyuki Tsujino, Michio Watanabe, Andrew Yool, and Jerry Tjiputra
Earth Syst. Dynam., 13, 1097–1118, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-1097-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-1097-2022, 2022
Short summary
Divergent historical GPP trends among state-of-the-art multi-model simulations and satellite-based products
Ruqi Yang, Jun Wang, Ning Zeng, Stephen Sitch, Wenhan Tang, Matthew Joseph McGrath, Qixiang Cai, Di Liu, Danica Lombardozzi, Hanqin Tian, Atul K. Jain, and Pengfei Han
Earth Syst. Dynam., 13, 833–849, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-833-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-833-2022, 2022
Short summary

Cited articles

Anderson, T. R.: Plankton functional type modelling: Running before we can walk?, J. Plankton Res., 27, 1073–1081, https://doi.org/10.1093/plankt/fbi076, 2005. 
Armstrong, R. A., Lee, C., Hedges, J. I., Honjo, S., and Wakeham, S. G.: A new, mechanistic model for organic carbon fluxes in the ocean based on the quantitative association of POC with ballast minerals, Deep-Sea Res. Pt. II, 49, 219–236, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0967-0645(01)00101-1, 2001. 
Arora, V. K., Boer, G. J., Christian, J. R., Curry, C. L., Denman, K. L., Zahariev, K., Flato, G. M., Scinocca, J. F., Merryfield, W. J., and Lee, W. G.: The Effect of Terrestrial Photosynthesis Down Regulation on the Twentieth-Century Carbon Budget Simulated with the CCCma Earth System Model, J. Clim., 22, 6066–6088, https://doi.org/10.1175/2009JCLI3037.1, 2009. 
Arora, V. K., Scinocca, J. F., Boer, G. J., Christian, J. R., Denman, K. L., Flato, G. M., Kharin, V. V, Lee, W. G., and Merryfield, W. J.: Carbon emission limits required to satisfy future representative concentration pathways of greenhouse gases, Geophys. Res. Lett., 38, https://doi.org/10.1029/2010GL046270, 2011. 
Arora, V. K., Boer, G. J., Friedlingstein, P., Eby, M., Jones, C. D., Christian, J. R., Bonan, G., Bopp, L., Brovkin, V., Cadule, P., Hajima, T., Ilyina, T., Lindsay, K., Tjiputra, J. F., and Wu, T.: Carbon-concentration and carbon-climate feedbacks in CMIP5 earth system models, J. Climate, 26(15), 5289–5314, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00494.1, 2013. 
Download
Short summary
We use an Earth system model with two new ocean ecosystem features (plankton size traits and temperature-sensitive nutrient recycling) to revaluate the effect of climate change on sinking organic carbon (the biological pump) and the ocean carbon sink. These features lead to contrary pump responses to warming, with a combined effect of a smaller sink despite a more resilient pump. These results show the importance of including ecological dynamics in models for understanding climate feedbacks.
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint