The Ocean Has Released an Insane Amount of CO2, And No One Even Noticed

[Judi Lynn]

"It's a carbon bomb."

DAVID NIELD 24 MAR 2018

Our planet's climate is built on a whole host of interlinked chemical reactions and counter-reactions, and we just learned about another: an underwater heatwave has triggered a worryingly huge release of CO2 from Amphibolis antarctica seagrass off north-western Australia.

Vast tracts of these flowering marine plants were killed by the stress of living in waters that were 2-4 degrees Celsius (3.6-7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than normal back in the summer of 2010-2011, researchers have found.

More than a third of the seagrass meadows were potentially affected. And no one really noticed.

And the findings have very real implications for the kind of self-perpetuating heat rises we could be in for, say the international team of researchers, as too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere warms the planet and leads to the release of even more greenhouse gases.

More:
https://www.sciencealert.com/marine-heatwave-releases-insane-amount-of-seagrass-co2

[tonyt53]

1. Another major impact oceans have, is that they are giant heatsinks.

Heat goes to cold. One of the first things I learned while becoming a mechanical engineer. Cooler oceans will draw in much more radiant heat from the sun. It isn't just the warmer Arctic air that is doing the ice thawing, it is mostly the warmer water.