(2008) and the

TAcalc values for Eq. (2) is 2 ± 0.2 μmol kg− 1. The uncertainty in the calculated TCO2 has been assessed by comparing measured values of surface TCO2 for the region (Table 1) with values calculated using the TAcalc (Eq. (2)) and the corresponding surface pCO2 values at the time the TCO2 measurements were made. The mean differences (measured-calculated) values of TCO2 and Ωar are − 2 ± 6 μmol kg− 1 and − 0.01, respectively, indicating the calculated values do provide a good estimate of these parameters. The annual mean and seasonal variability in TAcalc are shown in Fig. 4 and appear to be closely related to the variability in precipitation and in the transport of the major currents in the region. The annual mean of TAcalc in the SEC (5°N–20°S) and NEC (15°N–20°N) regions is above 2298 μmol kg− 1, which is the mean value for the entire study area. The TAcalc values for SEC and NEC waters decrease to the Dabrafenib supplier west as these waters freshen and mix more with the lower TA waters of the western Pacific. The influence of salinity changes on surface TA values can be evaluated selleck inhibitor by normalizing the values to a constant salinity of 35 (NTA = TA × 35 / SAL) following Chen and Millero (1979). The NTA for measured samples averages 2300 ± 6 μmol kg− 1 (n = 799) for the entire study region, in close agreement with a calculated NTA

(NTAcalc) mean of 2300 ± 0.3 μmol kg− 1 (n = 3708). The gridded NTAcalc values reported here are the same as previously reported measured NTA values (2300 ± 6 μmol kg− 1) of Millero et al. (1998) and is similar to the gridded NTA values (2294 ± 14 μmol kg− 1) calculated using interpolated surface TA from GLODAP (Key et al., 2004) and gridded salinity data from CARS (Dunn and Ridgway, 2002 and Ridgway et al., 2002). The seasonal change in salinity due to vertical mixing is typically small over the entire study area (Bingham et al., 2010), including in the equatorial and tropical Western Pacific where a semi-permanent barrier layer restricts vertical

mixing (de Boyer Montégut et al., 2007). This suggests that vertical mixing has a minor role in the seasonal variability in TA, which Etofibrate is driven more by changes in precipitation and advection. The months of TAcalc minimum values in the region of the South and North Equatorial Counter Currents (SECC and NECC, respectively) are March–April and October–December, respectively. The minima coincide with the maximum easterly transport of these currents (Chen and Qiu, 2004 and Philander et al., 1987), which would result in a greater transport of fresher, low TA waters from the Western Pacific to the east. The NECC waters are also fresher and have lower TAcalc values than SECC waters due to greater precipitation (Bingham et al., 2010). For the WPWP, high precipitation during the summer monsoon from December to April (Bingham et al., 2010 and Johnson et al.