Ocean Losing Ability to Soak up CO2
Pastor Dale Morgan
May 17, 2:22 PM EDT
*Ocean Losing Ability to Soak up CO2*
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The ocean, which has absorbed some excess carbon
dioxide from the atmosphere for centuries, is slowly losing that
ability, a new report says.
The buildup of carbon dioxide in the air since the beginning of the
industrial revolution has raised concerns that it would trap solar
energy and cause a warming of the climate. The oceans are believed to
absorb about one-quarter of human-related carbon emissions.
But researchers reporting in the journal Science say at least one large
ocean area - the Southern Ocean that surrounds Antarctica - seems to be
losing its ability to take up the gas.
Their four-year study concluded that an increase in winds over the
Southern Ocean is preventing it from absorbing more carbon and is
causing the sea to release some of the gas that it had stored.
"This is serious. All climate models predict that this kind of
'feedback' will continue and intensify during this century," lead author
Corinne Le Quere of the University of East Anglia said in a statement.
In addition to East Anglia, researchers participating in the study were
from the British Antarctic Survey and the Max-Planck Institute for
Biogeochemistry in Jena, Germany.
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On the Net:
Science: http://www.sciencemag.org