TAO 8°S, 165°E

Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO) Mooring at 8°S, 165°E

Upwelling in the equatorial Pacific leads to enhanced productivity and degassing of CO2 across a region ranging from the coast of South America to past the international dateline. The vast area affected makes this region a significant component of the global biogeochemical cycle. It is estimated that as much as 70% of the interannual variability in the net global oceanic uptake of atmospheric CO2 comes from changes in the Equatorial Pacific upwelling associated with climate variations called El Niño and La Niña. The PMEL carbon group has mounted sensors on moored buoys within the TAO Array to provide high resolution time-series measurements of atmospheric boundary layer and surface ocean CO2 partial pressure (pCO2 ) in an attempt to quantify the variations in equatorial outgassing.

Please visit the TAO Website for more information on the Equatorial Moorings.

Finalized Data availability: contact Adrienne Sutton.

Plots of surface water and atmospheric CO2:

Plot of CO2 at 8S, 165E from the last 30 days Plot of delta pCO2 and O2 data for the last 30 days at 8S, 165E Plot of CO2 at 8S, 165E for the full data set Plot of delta pCO2 and O2 data for the full data set at 8S, 165E
Data are unverified
Plot of CO2 data at 8S, 165E from the last 30 days