Dissolved Inorganic Carbon (DIC)

Dissolved inorganic carbon is the sum of dissolved CO2, bicarbonate, and carbonate ions in seawater, typically near 2,000 micromoles per kilogram in the surface ocean and higher at depth where respiration and carbonate dissolution add carbon. Bicarbonate makes up about 90 percent of it. DIC is one of the two carbonate-system parameters (with total alkalinity) measured on repeat hydrography to track ocean uptake of anthropogenic carbon.