Earth’s Natural Defenses Against Climate Change “Beginning to Fail”

An article published recently in Science finds that the Earth’s natural carbon sinks, the southern Ocean around Antarctica, are saturated. The level had been steady for the past 25 years, but the increase of carbon emissions has meant less carbon absorbed and more carbon trapping the sun’s heat. Heat is increasing wind speeds on the oceans, producing bigger storms, stirring up more carbon from the depths to the surface of the ocean. This leaves the surface of the ocean saturated.

emissions > left over carbon > trapped heat > bigger storms >
churning oceans > surfacing carbon > saturation at the surface

Result? Feedback that speeds up the warming that all of us experience.

One question not yet settled: does this affect the whole ocean system or just the southern ocean? I’m sure we’ll being hearing about the answer soon