The ¹³C Suess Effect in Scleractinian Corals Mirror Changes in the Anthropogenic CO₂ Inventory of the Surface Oceans

Authors

Peter K. Swart, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science
Lisa Greer, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science
Brad E. Rosenheim, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric ScienceFollow
Chris S. Moses, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science
Amanda J. Waite, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science
A. Winter, University of Puerto Rico
Richard E. Dodge, Nova Southeastern University
Kevin Helmle, Nova Southeastern University

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2010

Keywords

Suess effect, carbon 13, corals

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1029/2009GL041397

Abstract

[1] New δ¹³C data are presented from 10 coral skeletons collected from Florida and elsewhere in the Caribbean (Dominica, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Belize). These corals range from 96 to 200 years in age and were collected between 1976 and 2002. The change in the δ¹³C of the skeletons from these corals between 1900 and 1990 has been compared with 27 other published coral records from the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. The new data presented here make possible, for the first time, a global comparison of rates of change in the δ¹³C value of coral skeletons. Of these records, 64% show a statistically significant (p < 0.05) decrease in δ¹³C towards the modern day (23 out of 37). This decrease is attributable to the addition of anthropogenically derived CO₂ (¹³C Suess effect) to the atmosphere. Between 1900 and 1990, the average rate of change of the δ¹³C in all the coral skeletons living under open oceanic conditions is approximately −0.01‰ yr⁻¹. In the Atlantic Ocean the magnitude of the decrease since 1960,−0.019 yr⁻¹ ±0.015‰, is essentially the same as the decrease in the δ¹³C of atmospheric CO₂ and the δ¹³C of the oceanic dissolved inorganic carbon (−0.023 to −0.029‰ yr⁻¹), while in the Pacific and Indian Oceans the rate is more variable and significantly reduced (−0.007‰ yr⁻¹ ±0.013). These data strongly support the notion that (i) the δ¹³C of the atmosphere controls ambient δ¹³C of the dissolved inorganic carbon which in turn is reflected in the coral skeletons, (ii) the rate of decline in the coral skeletons is higher in oceans with a greater anthropogenic CO₂ inventory in the surface oceans, (iii) the rate of δ¹³C decline is accelerating. Superimposed on these secular variations are controls on the δ¹³C in the skeleton governed by growth rate, insolation, and local water masses.

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Citation / Publisher Attribution

Geophysical Research Letters, v. 37, issue 5, art. L05604

©2010. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.

Scholar Commons Citation

Swart, Peter K.; Greer, Lisa; Rosenheim, Brad E.; Moses, Chris S.; Waite, Amanda J.; Winter, A.; Dodge, Richard E.; and Helmle, Kevin, "The ¹³C Suess Effect in Scleractinian Corals Mirror Changes in the Anthropogenic CO₂ Inventory of the Surface Oceans" (2010). Marine Science Faculty Publications. 2415.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/msc_facpub/2415