Application of a nonparametric approach to analyze delta-pCO2 data from the Southern Ocean

Abstract

In this paper the authors discuss the application of a classical nonparametric inference approach to analyse delta-pCO2 measurements from the Southern Ocean, which is a novel method to analysing data in this area, as well as comparing results with the regular parametric approach. Delta-pCO2 is the difference between atmospheric and ocean partial pressure of CO2. Oceans are estimated to absorb about 40% of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions and can act as both a carbon sink as well as a carbon source. The Southern Ocean, which comprises a large part of world oceans, thus plays a crucial role in the balance of atmospheric CO2. However, the region south of Africa is largely unanalysed due to data from the region being only very recent. In this paper they analyse in situ measurements of delta-pCO2 data obtained from the Antarctic to Cape Town leg of the SANAE 49 trip during February 02 – 22, 2010. We use a nonparametric approach to understand the behaviour of the distribution of the in situ delta-pCO2 measurements as analysis reveals that the distribution of the data is not unimodal, indicating that traditional parametric methods may not capture its distribution well.