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What the analysis determined is that the slow, sluggish movement of the deep ocean was even slower during the last ice age - meaning the CO2 stored within it was even more isolated from the Earth's atmosphere. Right now, said Galbraith, surface water sucked into the deep ocean typically doesn't return to the surface for 2,000 years. During the last ice age, he said, that round trip took closer to 3,000 years.
The study also found the deep ocean stored more CO2 during the ice age than it did once things warmed up. Galbraith stressed that his research is historical - he can only see what happened before, not what happens next. But he said it may mean that as the Earth becomes warmer, the ocean's CO2-disposal system could start breaking down.
"We've been benefitting from this pump that's in the ocean, pumping the CO2 into the deep sea," he said. "If the last ice age was a good analogy, this pump is not going to function as well in the future... That it won't take up as much CO2 as it has in the past." Any changes in ocean CO2 levels are likely to be gradual, said Galbraith, taking place over centuries, not decades.
But even a tiny change could have a big impact on earth, he said, because the ocean contains about 60 times more CO2 than the atmosphere. "The numbers we're talking about are so big they could have big impacts on the outcome of climate change," he said.
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http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=16f6aafe-7eb8-4975-abe0-d6dc64e5d757&k=96762