A study in the Artic has found that relatively small-scale occurrences like phytoplankton can shape global ecology and climate.
Fronts created by winds, river outflows, or currents are found throughout the oceans and may play an important role in transporting carbon to the seafloor.
Researchers also studied how the rapid pace of warming in the Arctic (four times the global average) will affect the rate at which phytoplankton pulls carbon from the atmosphere as they grow and ultimately, the fate of that carbon.
Kevin Arrigo, Stanford biological oceanographer, said he initially wondered “Where does all that carbon go? Does it get eaten? Does it sink to the bottom?”
The scientists’ findings suggest an overall increase in carbon absorbed by phytoplankton and eventually stowed away in sediments, yet many unknowns about the region remain.
They said that warmer freshwater from ice melt could form a layer at the sea surface, blocking nutrient-rich waters below from mixing and feeding plankton, thereby limiting their growth.
James Lauer, earth system science PhD student, said “We really have to consider these relatively small-scale physics when we think about the carbon cycle across the global ocean”.
The Oceanic carbon cycle acts as the Earth’s largest active carbon sink, absorbing roughly 25% to 30% of all human-driven carbon dioxide emissions.
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