Winter sea ice ‘supercharges’ Southern Ocean’s CO2 uptake, say researchers – but lack of data is an issue

Antarctic sea ice [image credit: BBC]

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The researchers seem to start with the premise that everything climate can be related to CO2 levels and those alone, which skews any normal logic. At least they do admit that shortage of data is a problem in trying to understand factors causing natural variation in the ocean carbon cycle in this region. But whether their focus on CO2 is going to be productive in climate terms is open to question, given such an approach usually leads to overestimates of future warming.
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Summary:
A breakthrough study has uncovered that the Southern Ocean’s power to pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere fluctuates dramatically depending on winter sea ice, says Science Daily.

When sea ice lingers longer into winter, the ocean absorbs up to 20% more CO2, thanks to a protective effect that blocks turbulent winds from stirring up deeper, carbon-loaded waters.

This subtle seasonal shield plays a vital role in buffering our planet against climate change [Talkshop comment – alarmist waffle]. But here’s the twist: winter data from the Southern Ocean is notoriously scarce due to its brutal conditions, meaning we might be missing a key piece of Earth’s climate puzzle, says the University of East Anglia. [Talkshop comment – or we might not be].
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New research reveals the importance of winter sea ice in the year-to-year variability of the amount of atmospheric CO2 absorbed by a region of the Southern Ocean.

In years when sea ice lasts longer in winter, the ocean will overall absorb 20% more CO2 from the atmosphere than in years when sea ice forms late or disappears early. This is because sea ice protects the ocean from strong winter winds that drive mixing between the surface of the ocean and its deeper, carbon-rich layers.

The findings, based on data collected in a coastal system along the west Antarctic Peninsula, show that what happens in winter is crucial in explaining this variability in CO2 uptake.

The study was led by scientists at the University of East Anglia (UEA), in collaboration with colleagues from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI, Germany), British Antarctic Survey (BAS, UK) and Institute of Marine Research (IMR, Norway). It is published today in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.

The global ocean takes up about a quarter of all CO2 that humans emit into the atmosphere. The Southern Ocean is responsible for about 40% of this and the researchers wanted to know why it varies so much from year to year.

Source here.
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Image: Antarctic sea ice [credit: BBC]