The Southern Ocean CO2 pump again – Le Figaro

The Marion Dufresne research vessel in the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean <. span class="fig-media-credits"> Photo credit: Nicolas Metzl

By dint of having absorbed carbon, the ocean seemed breathless. Good news, according to a study published in the Science magazine , the Southern Ocean on average absorbs more CO2 than it rejects.

Since 1870 and the beginning of the industrial era – or the” Anthropocene “- the oceans were a kind of lung for the planet. The large bodies of water have absorbed a quarter of CO2 (carbon dioxide) from the burning of oil for human activities. Of these, 40% were diluted in the Southern Ocean. They are “carbon sinks”, in the words of ecologists and geochemists. But by dint of carbon absorbed, the oceans seemed breathless, saturated with CO2, because of complex climatic changes.

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