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Deep marginal seas with a large body of water, especially those with deep water formation, may be non-negligible sinks for excess CO2. It is estimated that seawater in the marginal seas in the North Pacific alone may have taken up over 1 x 1015 g of excess carbon, including 0.19 ± 0.05 x 1015 g for the Bering Sea; 0.31 ± 0.05 x 1015 g for the Sea of Japan; 0.07 ± 0.02 x 1015 g for the East China and Yellow Seas; and 0.43 ± 0.1 x 1015 g for the South China Sea. More importantly, high latitude marginal seas such as the Bering Sea or the Okhotsk Sea may act as a conveyor belt in exporting excess CO2 into the North Pacific Intermediate Water which is a much larger sink. The upward migration of calcite and aragonite saturation horizons may also make the shelf deposits on the Bering and Okhotsk Seas more susceptible to dissolution thus neutralizing excess CO2.
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