Air-Sea Fluxes of CO2 Analysis Methods and Impact on Carbon Budget

Sammanfattning: Carbon dioxide (CO2) is an important greenhouse gas, and the atmospheric concentration of CO2 has increased by more than 100 ppm since prior to the industrial revolution.  The global oceans are considered an important sink of atmospheric CO2, since approximately one third of the anthropogenic emissions are absorbed by the oceans. To be able to model the global carbon cycle and the future climate, it is important to have knowledge of the processes controlling the air-sea exchange of CO2. In this thesis, measurements as well as a model is used in order to increase the knowledge of the exchange processes.The air-sea flux of CO2 is estimated from high frequency measurements using three methods; one empirical method, and two methods with a solid theoretical foundation. The methods are modified to be applicable for various atmospheric stratifications, and the agreement between methods is good in average.A new parameterization of the transfer velocity (the rate of transfer across the air-sea interface), is implemented in a Baltic Sea model. The new parameterization includes also the mechanism of water-side convection. The impact of including the new parameterization is relatively small due to feedback processes in the model. The new parameterization is however more representative for flux calculations using in-situ measurement or remote sensing products. When removing the feedback to the model, the monthly average flux increases by up to 20% in some months, compared to when water-side convection is not included.The Baltic Sea carbon budget was estimated using the Baltic Sea model, and the Baltic Sea was found to be a net sink of CO2. This is consistent with some previous studies, while contradictory to others. The dissimilarity between studies indicates the difficulty in estimating the carbon budget mainly due to variations of the CO2 uptake/release in time and space. Local variations not captured by the model, such as coastal upwelling, give uncertainties to the model. Coastal upwelling can alter the uptake/release of CO2 in a region by up to 250%. If upwelling would be included in the model, the Baltic Sea might be considered a smaller sink of CO2.