Large Surface Carbon Dioxide Anomalies in the North Pacific Ocean

DURING the trans-Pacific Lusiad expedition of R.V. Argo, May 18–June 9, 1962, Waterman observed a large inequality of the partial pressure of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and in the surface water in the centre of the North Pacific Ocean1. His traverse (Fig. 1) showed that the partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PCO2) in the water was generally less than that in the atmosphere (320 p.p.m.), with a maximum anomaly of about 20 per cent. This difference in PCO2 is too large to be accounted for solely by changes in temperature, salinity, or solution of calcium carbonate2. Our recent work shows that the carbon dioxide anomaly is of biological origin. It is similar to, but of greater dimensions than, the biologically induced carbon dioxide anomalies found by Teal and Kanwisher3.