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Abstract

Ground-based atmospheric observations of CO2, δ(O2/N2), N2O, and CH4 were used to make top-down estimates of the air–sea fluxes of these species from the Lüderitz and Walvis Bay upwelling cells in the northern Benguela region, during upwelling events. Average flux densities (±1σ) were 0.64 ± 0.4 μmol m−2 sec−1 for CO2, −5.1 ± 1.4 μmol m−2 sec−1 for O2 (as APO), 0.57 ± 0.3 nmol m−2 sec−1 for N2O, and 4.3 ± 5.5 nmol m−2 sec−1 for CH4. A comparison of our top-down flux estimates with shipboard-based measurements showed good agreement between both approaches. During the study, upwelling events were sources of CO2, N2O, and CH4 to the atmosphere. N2O fluxes were fairly low, in accordance with previous work suggesting that the evasion of this gas from the Benguela is smaller than for other Eastern Boundary Upwelling Systems (EBUS). Conversely, CH4 release was quite high for the marine environment, a result that supports studies that indicated a large sedimentary source of CH4 in the Walvis Bay area. These results demonstrate the suitability of atmospheric time series for characterizing the temporal variability of upwelling events and their influence on the overall marine GHG emissions from the northern Benguela region.