Two Arctic Seas Absorb Huge Amounts of Carbon Dioxide

Russian and foreign oceanologists have discovered that in the Barents and Kara Seas there is a kind of “carbon carrier” that actively transports carbon to the ocean depths.

Thanks to this, both Bahrains annually remove more than 13.6 million tons of carbon dioxide from the Earth’s atmosphere, the press service of the German Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) reported on Monday, November 21.

The press service quotes Andreas Ruge, a researcher at the institute: “Our observations have shown that more than two thousand tons of carbon equivalent sink daily to the bottom of these two seas, which is equivalent to 8.5 thousand tons. carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Over 13.6 million tons of carbon dioxide are absorbed by the Carbon Conveyor during the year, which is comparable to Iceland’s annual greenhouse gas emissions.

And the global ocean remains, as climatologists believe today, the main natural brake on global warming. Since pre-industrial times, its waters have absorbed about 90% of the heat and about a third of the carbon dioxide emitted by industry, cars and other products of civilization. This process not only slows down climate change, but, as scientists fear, can cause dramatic changes in the ecosystems of the seas.

Oceanographers and climatologists are also concerned about potential changes in the speed and direction of deep and surface currents that could disrupt the burial of algae and other organic matter on the world’s ocean floor. These water flows play a particularly important role in the carbon cycle in the polar regions of the Earth, where organic matter is still slowly decomposing.

To obtain this information, in 2018, oceanologists made an expedition to the northern coast of Russia aboard the Akademik Treshnikov research vessel, during which they tracked the movement of a current of very dense and cold water that sinks to the bottom. from the Arctic Ocean to the Barents Sea, follows the direction of the Northern Territory archipelago and the Laptev Sea.

Scientists collected water samples along the path of this full-flowing stream, and also measured the number of organic molecules and the speed of water movement using special cameras and scientific instruments. Their calculations unexpectedly showed that this water flow carried a huge mass of organic matter into the depths of the Arctic Ocean.

According to modern estimates by foreign and Russian oceanologists, the “carbon carrier” they discovered removes more than 13.6 million tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which is comparable to the annual emissions of many small countries or 10% of the total greenhouse gases produced. all volcanoes on earth.

Scientists came to the conclusion that the presence of this phenomenon must be taken into account when assessing the carbon balance in the Arctic.

Source: TASS

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