Chlorofluorocarbons in the Ocean
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Chlorofluorocarbons in the Ocean. Cesar Colon August 1, 2005. Ocean Tracer Group. Cesar Colon Dr. Tim Hall Dr. Christian Rodehacke Rayhan Ahmed Scott Alfano. Introduction.
Chlorofluorocarbons in the Ocean
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Chlorofluorocarbons in the Ocean Cesar Colon August 1, 2005
Ocean Tracer Group Cesar Colon Dr. Tim Hall Dr. Christian Rodehacke Rayhan Ahmed Scott Alfano
Introduction • Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are trace gases of industrial origin and are infamous for their role in stratospheric ozone depletion. Less well known the fact that a small fraction of atmospheric CFCs have entered the ocean via gas exchange • CFCs are chemically inert in seawater, and are carried by currents and turbulent mixing
Introduction (cont.) • Propagation of CFCs from surface entry points to ocean interior provides crucial information on rates of ocean transport • This information can be applied to quantities such as CO2 and heat
Project Tasks • Work with ocean CFC data to document the evolution of CFCs in ocean surface waters; Quantifying this evolution is the first step in extracting information from CFC surface-to-interior transport rates • Work with measurements taken during several sea-going research routes, coupled with the observed atmospheric CFC history
Project Tasks (cont.) • Compare actual surface water CFC concentrations to those that would be expected if surface water CFCs were in equilibrium with atmosphere, using well known equilibrium relationships
Project Goals • Quantify the ocean’s role in sequestering quantities of CFCs and other gases in order to better understand the Earth’s climate • Learning how the difference from air-sea equilibrium of CFCs has changed over time
The Indian Ocean • Well represented during WOCE, therefore plenty of data • Some data goes back to late 1980s. It is important to have well documented history because it provides more detail for analysis
Region Analyzed • We looked for a region with large time overlap in terms of data gathered, as well as a small enough region so that T and S don’t vary much
Future Work • Calculate CFC-12 Actual and Theoretical Concentrations over time for same region and compare • Seasonal averages from Indian Ocean; would produce more accurate results as well as possible information about CFC saturation differences between different times of year
Future Work (cont.) • Repeat process on different areas around Indian Ocean with time overlap to achieve a more complete view • Repeat for other bodies of water, such as the North Atlantic or South Pacific Oceans