Assessments of anthropogenic CO2 distribution in the tropical Atlantic Ocean

With a limited number of properties (salinity, temperature, total dissolved inorganic carbon, total alkalinity, and oxygen) from a recent cruise in the tropical Atlantic Ocean, we use the simple and recent approach TrOCA (Tracer combining Oxygen, inorganic Carbon, and total Alkalinity) to estimate the distribution of anthropogenic CO2 along three latitudinal sections. In order to assess the quality of the anthropogenic CO2 distribution, results from the method are compared to the CFC-11 measurements. We discuss the large-scale distribution of the main water masses of the tropical Atlantic Ocean in the light of the anthropogenic CO2 and the CFC-11 distributions. Keeping in mind that the anthropogenic CO2 emission began ∼60 years earlier than that of CFC-11, the former provides new insight on the local circulation and efficiency of the tropical waters to store the atmospheric carbon.