New research suggests vast underwater seaweed forests could play a much bigger role in slowing climate change
An international team of scientists has shed new light on how coastal seaweed forests help lock away planet-warming carbon.
Large seaweeds, known as macroalgae, absorb vast amounts of atmospheric CO2. Previous research estimated that between 4m and 44m tonnes of macroalgae-derived carbon sink each year to depths of up to 200 metres, where it can remain for at least a century.
Now researchers from Germany, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Denmark and the UK have tracked 8,000 seaweed rafts growing off southwest Greenland for the first time.
Using satellite imagery, computer modelling and ocean current monitoring devices, they found that offshore currents can carry seaweed hundreds of kilometres. As surface waters cool, the floating vegetation is driven below the surface, where it breaks down and sinks, transporting carbon to the deep ocean.
“Our findings illustrate a tangible oceanic conveyor belt that links thriving coastal macroalgal forests with the deep ocean’s carbon reservoir,”said Prof Ana Queirós, marine climate change ecologist and climate change lead at Plymouth Marine Laboratory. “Recognising these natural transport and mixing pathways enhances how we understand macroalgae’s vital role in the Earth’s carbon cycle.”
Main image: Mathilde Cureau
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