North Atlantic Carbon Absorption Up 50% In Past Decade From Prior Ten Years

LONDON, 12 February, 2016 – The North Atlantic Ocean is responding rapidly to climate change: it has absorbed 50% more carbon from human activities in the last 10 years,than in the previous decade, a new study shows.

In effect, it has become both a sink for the byproduct of the fossil fuel combustion that is driving global warming, and at the same time an index of the impact humans are now having on the ocean and atmosphere.

Scientists from the University of Miami’s school of marine and atmospheric science established the Atlantic’s hunger for carbon dioxide by simply looking at data samples taken a decade apart.

EDIT

The extra CO2 absorbed means a change in ocean chemistry: the oceans are becoming increasingly acidic at an unprecedented rate, with unknown consequences for corals, shellfish and juvenile fish. “This study shows the impact all of us are having on the environment and that our use of fossil fuels isn’t only causing climate to change, but also affects the oceans by decreasing the pH,” said Ryan Woosley, of the University of Miami, one of the authors.

EDIT

http://climatenewsnetwork.net/north-atlantic-doubles-carbon-intake/?utm_source=Climate+News+Network&utm_campaign=6687b69c4e-North+Atlantic+doubles+carbon+intake&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1198ea8936-6687b69c4e-38798465&mc_cid=6687b69c4e&mc_eid=441cf4f801