Impact of eddy parameterisations on the simulated response of Southern Ocean air-sea CO2 fluxes to wind stress changes in IPCC-type ocean models

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The main aim of the proposed research is a systematic assessment of recently developed new parameterisations for meso-scale eddies in coarse-resolution ocean-climate models with embedded marine biogeochemistry. The focus is on the simulated relation between Southern Ocean winds and air-sea carbon fluxes as a function of the underlying eddy parameterisation. There is strong evidence that, to date, coupled climate biogeochemical models overestimate the upwelling associated with strengthening winds in the Southern Ocean because of a deficient parameterisation of the unresolved mesoscale activity. This, in turn, implies that state-of-the-art (model based) projections of oceanic uptake of anthropogenic carbon are significantly flawed as the projected increase in upwelling brings too much deep water with high dissolved inorganic carbon concentrations to the surface where it is subject to air-sea exchange. On the other hand, recent advances in the parameterisation of meso-scale eddies in the ocean have not been transferred yet to coupled ocean biogeochemical models. Here, we propose to implement the recently developed new eddy parameterisations into a global coupled ocean biogeochemical model. In a suite of model experiments we strife to explore the uncertainty of model projections of air-sea carbon fluxes in the Southern Ocean associated with the underlying meso-scale eddy parameterisations.