资源环境科技发展态势分析平台

Remote, harsh conditions of the Southern Ocean challenge our ability to observe the region's influence on the climate system. Southern Ocean air‐sea CO₂ flux estimates have significant uncertainty due to the reliance on limited ship‐dependent observations in combination with satellite‐based and interpolated data products. We utilize a new approach, making direct measurements of air‐sea CO₂, wind speed, and surface ocean properties on an Uncrewed Surface Vehicle (USV). In 2019 the USV completed the first autonomous circumnavigation of Antarctica providing hourly CO₂ flux estimates. Using this unique data set to constrain potential error in different measurements and propagate those through the CO₂ flux calculation, we find that different wind speed products and sampling frequencies have the largest impact on CO₂ flux estimates with biases that range from ‐4% to +20%. These biases and poorly‐constrained interannual variability could account for discrepancies between different approaches to estimating Southern Ocean CO₂ uptake.