Posted by Olive Heffernan on behalf of Michael Hopkin
It looks as if the Southern Ocean – the great white hope for sucking up mankind’s carbon emissions – is slowly losing its efficiency as a carbon sink due to largely unforseen climate feedbacks. It’s early days, but this first real-world measurement of a slowdown in the ocean’s ability to dissolve carbon could have worrying implications for those currently thinking about how to stabilize atmospheric greenhouse levels.
Read more on the Southern Ocean’s reduced CO2 uptake here
Michael Hopkin
News reporter, Nature