EcoWatch
Facebook 573k Twitter 238k Instagram 37k Subscribe Subscribe
  • Climate
  • Energy
  • Policy
  • Renewables
  • Culture
  • Science
  • Go Solar Today
      • Top Companies By State
        • California Solar Companies
        • Texas Solar Companies
        • New York Solar Companies
        • Florida Solar Companies
        • See All States
      • Top Incentives By State
        • California Solar Incentives
        • Texas Solar Incentives
        • New York Solar Incentives
        • Florida Solar Incentives
        • See All States
      • Solar Panel Costs By State
        • Solar Panel Costs in California
        • Solar Panel Costs in Texas
        • Solar Panel Costs in New York
        • Solar Panel Costs in Florida
        • See All States
      • Value of Solar by State
        • Is Solar Worth It In California?
        • Is Solar Worth It in Texas?
        • Is Solar Worth It New York?
        • Is Solar Worth It In Florida?
        • See All States
      • Company Reviews
        • Tesla Solar Review
        • Sunrun Solar Review
        • SunPower Solar Review
        • Vivint Solar Review
        • See All Companies
      • Common Solar Questions
        • Can You Get Free Solar Panels?
        • Does Solar Increase Home Value?
        • What’re The Best Solar Batteries?
        • Can You Finance Solar?
        • Where To Buy Solar Panels?
        • Payback On Solar Panels?
      • Solar Resources
        • Interactive Solar Calculator
        • Federal Solar Tax Credit 2023
        • Best Solar Panels For Most Homes
        • Tesla Solar Roof Review
        • Cheapest Solar Panels
      • Companies Compared
        • SunPower vs Tesla Solar
        • SunRun vs Tesla Solar
        • SunRun vs SunPower
        • SunPower vs Momentum Solar
        • SunPower vs ADT Solar
EcoWatch
  • Climate
  • Energy
  • Policy
  • Renewables
  • Culture
  • Science
  • Go Solar Today
    • Go Solar Today
    • Top Companies By State
      • California Solar Companies
      • Texas Solar Companies
      • New York Solar Companies
      • Florida Solar Companies
      • See All States
    • Top Incentives By State
      • California Solar Incentives
      • Texas Solar Incentives
      • New York Solar Incentives
      • Florida Solar Incentives
      • See All States
    • Solar Panel Costs By State
      • Solar Panel Costs in California
      • Solar Panel Costs in Texas
      • Solar Panel Costs in New York
      • Solar Panel Costs in Florida
      • See All States
    • Value of Solar by State
      • Is Solar Worth It In California?
      • Is Solar Worth It in Texas?
      • Is Solar Worth It New York?
      • Is Solar Worth It In Florida?
      • See All States
    • Company Reviews
      • Tesla Solar Review
      • Sunrun Solar Review
      • SunPower Solar Review
      • Vivint Solar Review
      • See All Companies
    • Common Solar Questions
      • Can You Get Free Solar Panels?
      • Does Solar Increase Home Value?
      • What’re The Best Solar Batteries?
      • Can You Finance Solar?
      • Where To Buy Solar Panels?
      • Payback On Solar Panels?
    • Solar Resources
      • Interactive Solar Calculator
      • Federal Solar Tax Credit 2023
      • Best Solar Panels For Most Homes
      • Tesla Solar Roof Review
      • Cheapest Solar Panels
    • Companies Compared
      • SunPower vs Tesla Solar
      • SunRun vs Tesla Solar
      • SunRun vs SunPower
      • SunPower vs Momentum Solar
      • SunPower vs ADT Solar

The best of EcoWatch right in your inbox. Sign up for our email newsletter!

    • About EcoWatch
    • Contact EcoWatch
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Learn About Solar Energy
    Facebook 573k Twitter 238k Instagram 37k
    EcoWatch
    • About EcoWatch
    • Contact EcoWatch
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Learn About Solar Energy
    Facebook 573k Twitter 238k Instagram 37k
    Home Climate

    Arctic Carbon Transportation Route Discovered by Scientists

    By: Cristen Hemingway Jaynes
    Published: November 22, 2022
    Edited by Chris McDermott
    Facebook icon Twitter icon Pinterest icon Email icon
    The research vessel Akademik Tryoshnikov exploring the Arctic seas
    The research vessel Akademik Tryoshnikov explored the Arctic Barents and Kara Seas. AWI / Andreas Rogge
    Why you can trust us

    Founded in 2005 as an Ohio-based environmental newspaper, EcoWatch is a digital platform dedicated to publishing quality, science-based content on environmental issues, causes, and solutions.

    Facebook icon Twitter icon Pinterest icon Email icon

    In the Arctic, a previously unknown carbon transportation route has been discovered by scientists that has the capability of binding as much as 3.97 million tons of particles rich in carbon dioxide annually from the Kara and Barents Seas and storing it in the deep waters of the Arctic for thousands of years, a press release from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) said.

    In a new study by researchers from AWI, it was found that this carbon conveyor belt uses the region’s ocean currents and the “biological carbon pump” to transport as much carbon dioxide as Iceland produces in a year. The biological carbon pump is one of Earth’s essential carbon sinks. The process can sequester carbon for millions of years if it ends up being deposited in deep-sea sediments. When that occurs, the only thing that can release it is volcanic activity.

      More From EcoWatch
    • Is Solar Right For Your Home?
    • The 6 Top Solar Providers
    • How to Conserve Energy

    “Based on our measurements, we calculated that through this water-mass transport, more than 2,000 metric tonnes of carbon flow into the Arctic deep sea every day, the equivalent of 8,500 metric tonnes of atmospheric CO2,” said oceanographer at AWI Dr. Andreas Rogge, who was the study’s lead author, as reported by The National.

    The study, “Carbon dioxide sink in the Arctic Ocean from cross-shelf transport of dense Barents Sea water,” was published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

    Because of the limited amount of sunlight — due to sea-ice cover or the Polar Night — in the Arctic Ocean, it has less available nutrients and biological productivity, the press release said. This means that the phytoplankton, or microalgae, in the upper layers of the water don’t have as much available energy as those in other bodies of water.

    Thus, it came as a shock when large amounts of carbon particles stored in plant remnants were found in the Central Arctic’s Nansen Basin in August and September of 2018, during the Akademik Tryoshnikov Russian research vessel’s ARCTIC2018 expedition.

    The researchers found that the ocean contained large quantities of particulate carbon up to depths of as much as 1.24 miles, made up of the lowermost layer of ocean water — called “bottom water” — from the Barents Sea. This bottom water is made when winter sea ice forms, sinks, then flows from the shallow waters of the coastal shelf down the slope of the continent into the Arctic Basin. The carbon-rich water goes from the Kara- and Barents-Sea shelf to about 621 miles into the Arctic Basin.

    By way of this newly-found carbon transport highway, the Barents Sea removes about 30 percent more atmospheric carbon than previously thought. Based on simulations, the researchers found that the outflow occurs seasonally because the absorption of carbon dioxide by phytoplankton in the coastal seas of the Arctic only occurs in the summer months.

    In order to make global carbon budgets and global warming estimates, it is necessary to understand the carbon cycle’s transformation and transport processes.

    When single-celled algae on the surface of the ocean are “aged out,” they absorb atmospheric carbon and sink into the depths of the sea. This bound up carbon remains in deep water until the ocean’s currents bring it back to the surface, which in the Arctic takes several millennia.

    The biological carbon pump also serves as a source of food for deep sea creatures like sea sponges, worms and stars. It is currently unknown how much of the carbon the local deep sea ecosystem absorbs.

    “[D]ue to the ongoing global warming, less ice and therefore less bottom water is formed. At the same time more light and nutrients are available for the phytoplankton, allowing more CO2 to be bound. Accordingly, it’s currently impossible to predict how this carbon sink will develop, and the identification of potential tipping points urgently calls for additional research,” Rogge said in the press release.

    Subscribe to get exclusive updates in our daily newsletter!

      By signing up, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy & to receive electronic communications from EcoWatch Media Group, which may include marketing promotions, advertisements and sponsored content.

      Cristen Hemingway Jaynes

      Cristen is a writer of fiction and nonfiction. She holds a JD and an Ocean & Coastal Law Certificate from University of Oregon School of Law and an MA in Creative Writing from Birkbeck, University of London. She is the author of the short story collection The Smallest of Entryways, as well as the travel biography, Ernest’s Way: An International Journey Through Hemingway’s Life.
      Facebook icon Twitter icon Pinterest icon Email icon

      Read More

      Just 12% of People in the U.S. Consume Over 50% of the Country's Beef, Study Finds
      A new study has found that only about 12% of
      By Paige Bennett
      Sequencing Project Helps Conservation Efforts for Critically Endangered Kākāpō
      Scientists are managing the critically endangered kākāpō population in New
      By Paige Bennett
      'We Have to Act Fast': 2 Degrees of Warming Could Cause 1 Billion Deaths Over Next Century
      A new study by Joshua Pearce of London’s Western University
      By Cristen Hemingway Jaynes

      Subscribe to get exclusive updates in our daily newsletter!

        By signing up, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy & to receive electronic communications from EcoWatch Media Group, which may include marketing promotions, advertisements and sponsored content.

        Latest Articles

        • Just 12% of People in the U.S. Consume Over 50% of the Country’s Beef, Study Finds
          by Paige Bennett
          September 1, 2023
        • Sequencing Project Helps Conservation Efforts for Critically Endangered Kākāpō
          by Paige Bennett
          August 30, 2023
        • Category 3 Idalia Strongest Hurricane to Hit Big Bend, Florida on Record
          by Cristen Hemingway Jaynes
          August 30, 2023
        • ‘We Have to Act Fast’: 2 Degrees of Warming Could Cause 1 Billion Deaths Over Next Century
          by Cristen Hemingway Jaynes
          August 30, 2023
        • London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone Expands to Entire City
          by Cristen Hemingway Jaynes
          August 29, 2023
        • Plant-Based Shrimp and Calamari Coming to UK Grocery Stores
          by Paige Bennett
          August 29, 2023
        • Oil Spills 101: Everything You Need to Know
          by Linnea Harris
          August 29, 2023
        • Small Urban Greening Projects Can Greatly Increase Insect Species Numbers in Cities
          by Cristen Hemingway Jaynes
          August 28, 2023
        EcoWatch

        The best of EcoWatch right in your inbox. Sign up for our email newsletter!

          • Climate Climate
          • Animals Animals
          • Health + Wellness Health + Wellness
          • Insights + Opinion Insights + Opinion
          • Adventure Adventure
          • Oceans Oceans
          • Business Business
          • Solar Solar
          • About EcoWatch
          • Contact EcoWatch
          • EcoWatch Reviews
          • Terms of Use
          • Privacy Policy
          • Learn About Solar Energy
          • Learn About Deregulated Energy
          • EcoWatch UK
          Follow Us
          Facebook 573k
          Twitter 238k
          Instagram 37k
          Subscribe Subscribe

          Experts for a healthier planet and life.

          Mentioned by:
          Learn more
          • Privacy Policy
          • Terms of Use
          • Cookie Preferences
          • Do Not Sell My Information
          © 2023 EcoWatch. All Rights Reserved.