Taking the Pulse of the North Atlantic
Filed under: Discovery,News & Resources
Employing the services of commercial ships plying the North Atlantic, an international team of scientists has made the first detailed and large-scale measurements of the exchange — or flux — of carbon dioxide between the atmosphere and the oceans.
(From Discovery News / by John D. Cox) — Their results, published in the new issue of the journal Science, show surprising variations in the North Atlantic’s absorption of the major greenhouse gas.
Combined with other measurements, such as satellites data of sea surface temperatures, the new network monitors chemical sensors installed in the engine rooms of volunteering commercial ships. The network could be expanded to commercial vessels crossing other oceans.
The lead author of the study, environmental scientist Andrew Watson of the University of East Anglia, describes it as “the first time scientists have observed CO2 uptake over any large region of the world — either land or ocean — with such accuracy.”
“Our new method estimates the flux and how it varies from year to year and season to season, showing patterns of uptake with a detail never before realized,” he said.
Because changes in the ability of the oceans to act as a natural carbon dioxide sink are seen as potential precursors to more pronounced climate change, the new measuring technique could eventually lead to an early-warning system, the researchers said.
Other recent research suggests that sources of CO2 emissions are outpacing the ability of the world’s oceans to absorb the gas.
