Climate Change: Southern Ocean Recovers Ability To Absorb Greenhouse Gases, Study

Surprisingly, it has been found that the Southern Ocean or the Antarctic Ocean, absorbed 1.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide in 2011. This was twice the amount registered in 1990.

Hence, the Southern Ocean absorbs more greenhouse gases in recent years. This contravenes the earlier belief that Antarctica cannot survive if there is too much carbon dioxide.

It thus absorbs 40 percent of man-made carbon dioxide.

Nicolas Gruber, the study's lead author from Swiss university ETH Zurich, devised a statistical model in order to understand the manner in which climate change would influence the Antarctic, while researchers calculated how much carbon dioxide would be absorbed by the ocean with the rise in the levels of the oceans.

Hence, while experts felt that the carbon absorption has come down since the late 1980s, the scientists were surprised with the new model showing that the Southern Ocean had absorbed 1.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide in 2011. This is twice the amount registered in 1990.

"We were surprised to see such large variations in this ocean's net carbon uptake," Gruber said in a university news release.

Due to the weather and wind pattern changes in the area, the researchers feel that the ocean has recovered its ability to absorb. Hence, since the 1990s, the winds and the air pressure in the Southern Ocean have got stronger compared to earlier. The water temperature is also colder, which has allowed the Southern Ocean to absorb more carbon dioxide.

However more examination into how much the Southern Ocean can sustain this ability is required, according to hngn.

"This announcement is good news, on the face of it, because we want this enormous carbon sink to keep working efficiently. It is not any reason to be complacent, however, because we still understand rather little about the internal workings of the Southern Ocean carbon cycle. For this reason we cannot be sure how resilient the Southern Ocean carbon sink will be in the future," Toby Tyrrell, professor in earth system science in ocean and earth science at the University of Southampton, told The Market Business. He has not been involved in the experiment.

The study was published in the Sept. 11 issue of Science.