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Pacific stores the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide at depths of thousands of metres
http://www.awi.de/nc/en/about-us/service/press/press-release/pazifik-speicherte-das-treibhausgas-kohlendioxid-in-tausenden-metern-tiefe.html[font face=Serif][font size=5]Pacific stores the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide at depths of thousands of metres[/font]
[font size=4]Researchers solve one of the great scientific mysteries of the ice ages[/font]
10. May 2016
[font size=3]An international team of researchers headed by scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute has gained new insights into the carbon dioxide exchange between ocean and atmosphere, thus making a significant contribution to solving one of the great scientific mysteries of the ice ages. In the past 800,000 years of climate history, the transitions from interglacials and ice ages were always accompanied by a significant reduction in the carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere. It then fell from 280 to 180 ppm (parts per million). Where this large amount of carbon dioxide went to and the processes through which the greenhouse gas reached the atmosphere again has been controversial until now. The scientists have now managed to locate a major carbon dioxide reservoir at a depth of 2000 to 4300 metres in the South Pacific and reconstruct the details of its gas emission history. Their new findings have been published open access in the scientific journal Nature Communications.
The southern Pacific Ocean is regarded as one of the largest ventilation windows of the world oceans. This is where the global conveyor belt of ocean currents transports the carbon-rich water from great depths to the surface of the sea for a short time. The gas concentration balance between water and air takes place where the two meet. This usually means that the carbon-rich water masses release the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide they had stored into the atmosphere, thus contributing to the greenhouse effect and the warming of the earth.
But what happened with this oceanic window during the last ice age and during the transition to the current warm period? When there was no ventilation, what happened to the carbon-rich water from the depths? With these key questions in mind, the international team of researchers consisting of geologists, geochemists and modellers analysed sediment cores from the South West Pacific.
The reason why the samples were taken in this marine region was as follows: The atmospheric carbon dioxide curve known from ice cores shows that at the end of the last ice age large amounts of "old" carbon dioxide were released into the atmosphere. Its old age means that this carbon dioxide comes from a reservoir that had not been in contact with the atmosphere for a long period of time. From a climate historical perspective the most likely place where the carbon dioxide is hidden is therefore the oceanic deep water. Most of it is in the Pacific, and it contains around 60 times more carbon than the pre-industrial atmosphere.
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http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2016/160509/ncomms11487/full/ncomms11487.html[font size=4]Researchers solve one of the great scientific mysteries of the ice ages[/font]
10. May 2016
[font size=3]An international team of researchers headed by scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute has gained new insights into the carbon dioxide exchange between ocean and atmosphere, thus making a significant contribution to solving one of the great scientific mysteries of the ice ages. In the past 800,000 years of climate history, the transitions from interglacials and ice ages were always accompanied by a significant reduction in the carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere. It then fell from 280 to 180 ppm (parts per million). Where this large amount of carbon dioxide went to and the processes through which the greenhouse gas reached the atmosphere again has been controversial until now. The scientists have now managed to locate a major carbon dioxide reservoir at a depth of 2000 to 4300 metres in the South Pacific and reconstruct the details of its gas emission history. Their new findings have been published open access in the scientific journal Nature Communications.
The southern Pacific Ocean is regarded as one of the largest ventilation windows of the world oceans. This is where the global conveyor belt of ocean currents transports the carbon-rich water from great depths to the surface of the sea for a short time. The gas concentration balance between water and air takes place where the two meet. This usually means that the carbon-rich water masses release the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide they had stored into the atmosphere, thus contributing to the greenhouse effect and the warming of the earth.
But what happened with this oceanic window during the last ice age and during the transition to the current warm period? When there was no ventilation, what happened to the carbon-rich water from the depths? With these key questions in mind, the international team of researchers consisting of geologists, geochemists and modellers analysed sediment cores from the South West Pacific.
The reason why the samples were taken in this marine region was as follows: The atmospheric carbon dioxide curve known from ice cores shows that at the end of the last ice age large amounts of "old" carbon dioxide were released into the atmosphere. Its old age means that this carbon dioxide comes from a reservoir that had not been in contact with the atmosphere for a long period of time. From a climate historical perspective the most likely place where the carbon dioxide is hidden is therefore the oceanic deep water. Most of it is in the Pacific, and it contains around 60 times more carbon than the pre-industrial atmosphere.
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