Impact of the Eastern Mediterranean Transient on the distribution of anthropogenic CO2 and first estimate of acidification for the Mediterranean Sea

In the Mediterranean Sea the carbon chemistry is poorly known. However, the impact of the regional and large-scale anthropogenic pressures on this fragile environment rapidly modifies the distribution of the carbonate system key properties like CT (total dissolved inorganic carbon), AT (total alkalinity), CANT (anthropogenic CO2), and pH. This leads inexorably to the acidification of its waters. In order to improve our knowledge, we first develop interpolation procedures to estimate CT and AT from oxygen, salinity, and temperature data using all available data from the EU/MEDAR/MEDATLAS II database. The acceptable levels of precision obtained for these estimates (6.11 μmol–kg−1 for CT and 6.08 μmol kg−1 for AT) allow us to draw the distribution of CANT (with an uncertainty of 6.75 μmol kg−1) using the Tracer combining Oxygen, inorganic Carbon, and total Alkalinity (TrOCA) approach. The results indicate that: 1) all Mediterranean water bodies are contaminated by anthropogenic carbon; 2) the lowest concentration of CANT is 37.5 μmol kg−1; and 3) the western basin is more contaminated than the Eastern basin. After reconstructing the distribution of key properties (CT, AT, CANT) for four periods of time (between 1986 and 2001) along a west–east section throughout the whole Mediterranean Sea, we analyze the impact of the Eastern Mediterranean Transient (EMT). Not only has the concentration of CANT increased (especially in the intermediate and the bottom layers of the eastern basin, during and after the EMT), but also the distribution of all properties has been considerably perturbed. This is discussed in detail. For the first time, the level of acidification is estimated for the Mediterranean Sea. Our results indicate that for the year 2001 all waters (even the deepest) have been acidified by values ranging from −0.14 to −0.05 pH unit since the beginning of the industrial era, which is clearly higher than elsewhere in the open ocean. Given that the pH of seawater may affect a very large number of chemical and biological processes, our results stress the necessity to develop new programs of research to understand and then predict the evolution of the carbonate system properties in the Mediterranean Sea.