Chapter 16, Key Finding 2

Available estimates of air-sea carbon fluxes, based on more than a decade of observations, indicate that the North American margins act as a net sink for atmospheric CO₂. This net uptake is driven primarily by fluxes in the high-latitude regions. The estimated magnitude of the net flux is 160 ± 80 teragrams of carbon per year ( medium confidence) for the North American Exclusive Economic Zone, a number that is not well constrained.