Abstract: The estimation of air-sea carbon flux is the important part of global carbon cycle research. With the development of remote sensing technology and the progress in extrapolation method, a new approach applying remote sensing technology to estimate regional-scale air-sea CO2 flux based on the analyses of sea surface pCO2 and its dominant controlling factors. A regional-scale temporal and spatial distribution of sea surface pCO2 and long time series patterns of carbon sink or source can be obtained by the new approach. In this study, we represent the development of the extrapolation method by single regression, double regressions and multiple regressions and the successful application in the open ocean and the coastal region. We also summary the application in the Southern Ocean and in the Arctic ocean and the implication in the future.

Key words: air-sea CO₂ flux, remote sensing, extrapolation method, polar region