In areas of water newly exposed by the melting and retreat of glaciers around the Antarctica Peninsula, large blooms of phytoplankton are beginning to flourish. By sucking up carbon and transporting it to the deep sea, the blooms can act as a buffer against climate change.
A research team from the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, led by biologist Lloyd Peck, compared historical records of glacial retreat along the Antarctic Peninsula coastline with measurements of chlorophyll — a green photosynthetic pigment contained in the phytoplankton — from the surrounding ocean. They found that a new carbon sink has developed in the region over the past 50 years and is now taking up 3.5 million tonnes of carbon from the ocean and atmosphere each year. Of the 3.5 million tonnes of carbon absorbed annually, 0.7 million tonnes is transported to the seabed, where it can stay locked away from the atmosphere for thousands of years.
The researchers anticipate that the blooms — which now soak up as much carbon as 6000-17000 hectares of tropical rainforest — will grow as the ice continues to melt. The amount sequestered will still only be minor, however, compared to the billions of tonnes of CO2 produced by humans each year.
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Heffernan, O. New shores for sinks. Nature Clim Change 1, 136 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/climate.2009.119
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/climate.2009.119
